Jacob Campbell

Jacob Campbell

School social worker practicing with students with EBD, university adjunct faculty, PhD student, Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, father, husband, and active community member

Fall 2026 SOWK 430 Class 04 Weekly Email

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I hope you all are all having a wonderful week!

Unit Introduction and What You Will Learn

In Week 4, we are finishing our discussion of the history of social work. There is much more to the story of this profession’s origins, but I hope you have a better understanding of its foundations. We will explore the story of the orphan trains. There are also forums about the code of ethics and how it has evolved from a couple of different viewpoints. Finally, I have a short lecture video where I share some of my experiences in South America. The agenda of the video is:

  • Review week four content
  • Experiences working at an orphanage

Learning objectives this week

  • Be exposed to child welfare from an international perspective.
  • Describe the history of the orphan trains, including why children were placed on them and how receiving families were chosen.
  • Trace how social work ethics have changed over time, from the profession’s early focus on the morality of clients to today’s digital period.
  • Identify significant changes in recent revisions of the NASW Code of Ethics, including the 2017 and 2021 updates, and areas where it may still need to grow.
  • Begin to consider the ethical challenges technology creates for practice, such as consent, confidentiality, and boundaries.

Unit Assignments

Read/Watch

W-04 A-01: Asynchronous Class Engagement and Participation

The expectation is that each of your replies will be substantive and provide meaningful perspectives, contributing to the forum’s conversation and scholarship. They can relate to the prompts or build on conversations shared by peers. There are four forums for this week, and you are expected to make at least 3 replies across any of the forums and read all of your peers’ replies. These forums include the following:

  • The PBS episode on the orphan trains is the starting point for Social Services in History, Vantage of The Orphan Trains (Sec 0 or Sec 2), which asks why children were placed on the trains, how families were selected, and what safety nets now keep poverty from separating families.
  • Evolution of the Code of Ethics: Early Ethics (Sec 0 or Sec 2) draws on Reamer (1998) to consider how the profession’s early focus on morality still plays out today, with its drawbacks and benefits.
  • Students weigh what has changed across the major revisions of the code, including the 2017 and 2021 updates, and where it still needs to grow in Evolution of the Code of Ethics: The Current 2021 Version and Previous Versions (Sec 0 or Sec 2).
  • Building on Reamer’s (2014) description of a new digital period, Evolution of the Code of Ethics: The Digital Period (Sec 0 or Sec 2) invites early thoughts about boundaries and ethical practice with current and developing technology.

Unit Resources

In the forum Social Services in History, Vantage of The Orphan Trains, I ask you to watch an episode of Consider This with Christine Zak Edmonds (2021) S01 E01: Jim Kidder and Clark Kidder The Orphan Train:

I also share some of my travel blog entries from when I was in Peru, Peruvian Spring Break 2009. As well, there is a journal article from Cook (1995) where you can find the reading attached below.

There are three forums focused on the evolution of the code of ethics for the NASW. The following are the various readings linked in those forums: Reamer (1998) (also attached below as a PDF), Reamer (2014), Barsky (2017), Barsky (2021).

I also encourage you to browse through and make yourself familiar with the current NASW Code of Ethics or with highlighted revisions. If you would prefer a printed version of the NASW Code of Ethics, the NASW Press sells it for $6.99. It is also in the textbook for this class.

All of the presentations for this class can be found at https://presentations.jacobrcampbell.com. This week’s slides are Fall 2026 SOWK 430 Week 04 - My Experiences in Peru.

The Lecture Videos tab (Sec 0 or Sec 2) in the MyHeritage course has class recordings. This week’s video is at Fall 2026 SOWK 430 Week 04 (Sec 0 or Sec 2).

Reference

Barsky, A. (2017). Ethics alive! The 2017 NASW code of ethics: What’s new? The New Social Worker. https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/ethics-articles/the-2017-nasw-code-of-ethics-whats-new/

Barsky, A. (2021). Ethics Alive: Special report on the 2021 revisions to the NASW code of ethics. The New Social Worker. https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/ethics-articles/special-report-2021-revisions-nasw-code-of-ethics/

Consider This with Christine Zak Edmonds. (2021). S01 E01: Jim Kidder and Clark Kidder The Orphan Train [Video]. Public Broadcasting Service; WTVP Public Media for Central Illinois. https://www.pbs.org/video/s01-e01-jim-kidder-clark-kidder-the-orphan-train-2d7mxv/

Cook, J. F. (1995). A history of placing-out: The orphan trains. Child Welfare, 74(1), 181-197. https://doi.org/10.2307/45399030

National Association of Social Workers. (2021a). NASW code of ethics. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

National Association of Social Workers. (2021b). Highlighted revisions to the code of ethics. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Highlighted-Revisions-to-the-Code-of-Ethics

Reamer, F. G. (1998). The evolution of social work ethics. Social Work, 43(6), 488-500. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/43.6.488

Reamer, F. G. (2014). The evolution of social work ethics. https://www.socialworktoday.com/news/eoe_061614.shtml

To-Do List

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