Legal Foundations of Social Work

Catalog description

The focus of this course is the application of legal, ethical, and policy research skills to social work practice. The instructor selects a main course theme, with wider applications to students' areas of interests for their dissertation topics. Legal, policy, and ethical analysis will be applied to dilemmas in the substantive arena of health care. Students will gain an appreciation of legal research, constitutional frameworks, and privacy law. Students will additionally apply skills in legal, policy, and ethical reasoning to social work issues related to practice, policy development, and advanced research, for example, in health care, mental health, education, child welfare, elder services, disability concerns, or civil rights. Finally, the course will serve as an introduction to the many substantive issues and dilemmas confronting health-care providers, including social workers, and patients today. Restriction(s): For PhD students only.