Ethical considerations are integral to our professional lives when we are faced with difficult choices regarding services and supports for children and families. Often, the right choice in service delivery for young children with disabilities ages birth to 5 years is unclear due to a myriad of factors potentially creating ethical dilemmas. This article reports the results of a focus group study with 82 early intervention (EI) professionals serving young children ages birth to 5 years designed to determine EI practitioners' ethical concerns in daily practice and how they are resolved. Professionals shared dilemmas they have experienced related to family–professional and interprofessional conflicts as well as those related to policy and programmatic issues. In addition, resolution strategies used by EI practitioners are highlighted. Guidelines for systematic ethical reflection and problem solving are recommended on the basis of professional Codes of Ethics.
School of Education (Drs Able, West, and Lim), and Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (Drs Able, West, and Lim), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Correspondence: Harriet Able, PhD, Early Childhood Intervention and Family Support, School of Education, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (hable@email.unc.edu).
This research was supported by an award to the first author from the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The authors have no conflicts of interest related to the contents of this manuscript.
