Abstract

Mental health clinicians treating youth in foster care face several ethical challenges, such as competence for treating youth in foster care, understanding who can provide informed consent, and confidentiality. However, few articles have addressed these ethical concerns or provided recommendations for clinicians on how to navigate these issues. This article presents a brief summary of the foster care system, an overview of the major ethical challenges clinicians may encounter when treating youth in foster care, areas of the American Psychological Association’s Ethics Code, Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers, and American Counseling Association Code of Ethics most germane to the treatment of youth in foster care, and general recommendations for clinicians treating this population.