Competence and Accountability

Human service professionals are expected to meet and maintain certain standards of competence in the profession, often measured by education, training, supervision, and experience. After completing your Reading for this week, please respond to the following questions:

In your own words, create a definition of competence in the field of human services.

Use the Internet and the Library to investigate the minimum standards of competence for human service professionals in your state. Describe these requirements.

Consider the Case Example of Rasheed (ATTACHED) regarding multicultural competencies. Imagine you are a caseworker at a human service agency working with Steve. What is your reaction to this case? Does it raise personal issues for you? If you were in Rasheeds position, would you feel competent to work with Steve? What if Steve discovered that he harbored negative attitudes toward African Americans? Would that make a difference in your response to this scenario?

TEXT: Sommers-Flanagan, R., Sommers-Flanagan, J.(2015). Becoming an Ethical Helping Professional: Cultural and Philosophical Foundations, with Video Resource Center.