Documentation in social work: evolving ethical and risk-management standards

Social workers' understanding of the relevance of documentation has evolved over time. During the profession's earliest years, social workers viewed documentation primarily as a mechanism to facilitate theory building, research, and teaching. This was followed by social workers' development of detailed and sophisticated documentation standards for clinical and other direct practice settings. Most recently, social workers have begun to appreciate the relevance of documentation for risk-management purposes, particularly as a tool to protect clients and to protect practitioners in the event of an ethics complaint or lawsuit. This article updates the profession's literature on documentation by summarizing current ethical and legal standards. Implications for social work practice, supervision, management, and administration are addressed.