Professional Ethics, Legal Issues, and Professional Practice
Domain 5 covers ethics, law, and professional practice: confidentiality, informed consent, records, boundaries, mandated reporting, and ongoing professional growth. The exam tests whether you can apply an ethical decision-making process when rules collide.
Core rules and concepts
- Informed consent for counseling includes purpose, limits, voluntary nature, records, and alternatives. For minors, obtain student assent and guardian consent as district policy requires.
- FERPA gives parents access to education records until the student turns 18 or enters postsecondary school; sole-possession notes may be excluded only if kept private and not shared.
- Mandated reporting: reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect requires a report to the state hotline, not an investigation by the counselor.
- Avoid dual relationships that impair objectivity; document boundary decisions and consult a supervisor.
- Ethical decision-making: identify the dilemma, review law and codes, consult, consider stakeholders, choose the least intrusive action, document, and evaluate.
- Professional development should target program data and equity gaps, not just clock hours.
Worked example
A parent demands to see the counselor's handwritten notes about a 16-year-old's relationship concerns. The counselor does not destroy the notes or hand them over immediately. She reviews district records policy, separates sole-possession notes from the education record, consults the records officer, and responds in writing. If the notes are education records, the parent generally has inspection rights; if they are true sole-possession notes, the district may exclude them. The reasoning: FERPA and district policy govern access; do not alter records; consult before disclosing.
Traps that cost marks
- Promising a student that nothing will be shared.
- Investigating abuse instead of reporting reasonable suspicion.
- Destroying notes to avoid a records request.
- Friending students on social media or providing private transportation.
- Relying on memory rather than documentation.