One of the important characteristics of a profession is that it should have a code of ethics (Corey et al. 1998). Social workers have long considered ethics an indispensable aspect of their practice, and many national social work associations have codes of ethics to which their members are required to adhere. Social work is no different here from many other professions, except that the importance it gives to values means that social workers are probably more immediately conscious of the ethical aspects of their practice than some other professionals. Certainly social workers spend a good deal of time talking about ethics, establishing and revising codes of ethics, and consciously dealing with ethical issues confronted in practice. The very nature of social work practice, dealing as it does with conflicting values and the making of difficult moral choices on behalf of society, means that ethical dilemmas will be part of the practice of every social worker (Clark 2000).

Codes of ethics are not only used to encourage ‘ethical’ behaviour on the part of social workers and to assist social workers who are confronted by difficult ethical dilemmas. They also perform a controlling function by seeking to prevent deliberately ‘unethical’ behaviour on the part of social workers. There is usually some form of sanction associated with the operation of a code of ethics: a mechanism for steps to be taken against unethical social workers, such as expulsion from the professional association, relinquishment of their right to practise, or a requirement to undertake further training (Gaha 1997).