Ch. 1 Professional Orientation and Ethical Practice (1)

1.1.1 Key historical Events in Counseling

- The counseling profession had its genesis in the late 1800s when it began in a much more circumscribed manner: vocational guidance. 
- The profession slowly began expanding and changing from its vocational guidance roots. 

1.1.2 Key Legal Issues in Counseling

- The principal difference between ethics and laws is that ethics are developed by associations to help members practice in a reputable manner, whereas laws are included in the penal code and often carry more serious consequences when individual fail to comply with laws (Linde, 2007). Violation of ethical standards may carry sanctions, but those penalties vary greatly and are determined by ethics committees rather than courts. Although the law trumps ethics in all circumstances, professional counselors rarely have to violate ethical standards follow the law.
- When studying for the NCE or CPCE, counselors should become thoroughly familiar with the NBCC code of ethics and the ACA code of ethics and be able to apply these ethical concepts to practice situations. 

1.1.2.1 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Enacted in 1974, the FERPA, also known as the Buckley Amendment, is a federal law that affects any counselor who works in an educational setting that receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education. Private schools, colleges, or universities that do not receive any funds from the USDE for any of their programs do not have to follow this act, but those institutions represent the minority.
  Key Points of FERPA
- FERPA was created to specify the rights of parents (if the child is minor) and nonminor students to access and examine the educational record, petition to have incorrect information found in the record amended, and ensure that certain information is not released to outside agencies without permission.
- An educational record refers to any document or information kept by the school relating to a student, such as attendance, achievement, behavior, activities, and assessment.
- Parents have the right to access their children's educational information until the child is 18 years old or begins college, whichever comes first, at which point the right shift to the student.
- Educational institutions are required to obtain written permission before releasing any information in a student's educational record.
- An exception to the preceding rule is that schools have the ability to give out directory information about students without consent. Directory information includes the student's name, address, telephone number, date of birth, place of birth, honors or awards, and dates of attendance at the school. However, schools must send an annual notice to students and/or parents informing them that they have the right to have their information, or their child's information, barred from release.
- Educational institutions that fail to comply with FERPA may face punitive action, such as loss of federal funding.
- Professional counselors' personal notes on students, considered an expansion of the counselor's memory that are kept separate from the educational record in a secure location, are considered confidential (Linde, 2007). Students and parents do not have the right to access counselors' personal notes. That being said, general counseling case notes may be considered part of a student's educational record, depending on the state.

1.1.2.2 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA)
Also pertaining to counselors who work in educational settings, IDEA is a civil rights law that was passed to guarantee that students with disabilities receive the services they need to gain the benefits of education. Like FERPA, this act applies to any school that receives federal funding and prohibits educational institutions from putting any student at a disadvantage based on a disability. It is important for professional counselors to be knowledgeable of this act if they work in an educational institution because part of their role is to advocate for the academic needs of their clients. 
  Key Points of IDEA
- Children are eligible to receive services under IDEA from birth until the age of 21 years.
- Counselors and educators serve as advocates for children with special education needs. School counselors are frequently part of the child study team, which evaluates a child's educational, psychological, sociological, and medical needs to determine eligibility for services.
- To qualify for eligibility under IDEA, a student must have a documented disability in at least one of the following areas: mental retardation, hearing impairment (including deafness), speech or language impairment, visual impairment (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairment, or specific learning disability. In addition, the student must need special education services as a result of a disability.
- All students with disabilities must be given free appropriate public education (FAPE) that addresses their individual needs and helps ready them for higher levels of education or employment.
- Every student who is eligible to receive special education services under IDEA must have an individualized educational plan (IEP) on file. School systems convene meetings of multidisciplinary teams to create the IEP. A students' IEP delineates what services the student will receive; when and how often; and goals for the student's learning, which are updated and reviewed yearly.
- It is required that each student's IEP ensure that the child receive the benefits of education in the least restrictive environment (LRE), which was mandated to allow as many students as possible to remain in regular classrooms if their needs could be met there with only limited accommodation.
- Students covered under IDEA often are also convered under the more expansive section 504 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973.