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Trust is an essential component in the development of helping relationships. Counselors regard the promise of confidentiality to be essential for the development of client trust. Most individuals seeking counseling services assume that what they divulge in counseling will be kept in confidence by their counselor, with limited exceptions (Glosoff, Herlihy, & Spence, 2000). This is most likely true for children and adolescents as well as adults. Managing confidentiality when counseling minors, however, is more complex than when counseling adults. School counselors must balance their ethical and legal responsibilities to their clients, clients' parents, and school systems. This complex balancing act is one reason that the topic of maintaining the confidences of student clients is raised in virtually every discussion of ethical and legal issues in school counseling. In attempting to weigh their legal and ethical obligations, it is helpful for school counselors to clearly identify those they consider to be "clients." School counselors are part of an educational community. As such, they consult with teachers, administrators, and parents. It is important for school counselors to clarify that their consultation is on behalf of students and that only the students are their clients (except if school counselors offer counseling to students' families).
The Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice of the American Counseling Association (ACA, 1995) and the Ethical Standards for School Counselors of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA, 1998) are two resources available to help school counselors manage privacy and confidentiality in their counseling relationships. School counselors can also look to moral principles or "shared beliefs or agreed-upon assumptions that guide the ethical reasoning of helping professionals" (Remley & Herlihy, 2001, p. 3) upon which the codes of ethics are based. The moral principles most often cited in relation to ethical practices of counselors include the following:
* Veracity or telling the truth
* Justice or fairness
* Nonmaleficence or doing no harm
* Beneficence or doing good
* Autonomy or respecting free choice
* Fidelity or keeping promises
The moral principle of beneficence refers to the responsibility to help clients gain something positive from engaging in counseling. It also includes counselors' duty to "help society in general and people who are potential clients" (Welfel, 2002, p. 34). Autonomy refers to respecting...