FSCT – Professional Boundaries & Ethics in Home Visiting
Competency Assessment
Please submit completed assessment to for grading.
1. The mom in your First Steps family offers you a gift of homemade cookies at Christmas time. Is it permissible for you to accept the gift since it is of token value?
a. True
b. False
2. The mom in your First Steps family offers you a gift certificate from a local store to show appreciation for all that you have done for her child and family. Is it permissible for you to accept the gift certificate?
a. True
b. False
3. Whose responsibility is it to set professional boundaries for you and to consciously work within them while providing First Steps services?
a. Early interventionist
b. First Steps family member/s
c. The early interventionist’s supervisor
d. Both the early interventionist’s and the family’s
4. When professional boundary transgressions occur, families may be harmed.
a. True
b. False
5. Once professional boundaries are established and put in writing, there is little chance that boundary crossings will occur.
a. True
b. False
6. Ethics is
a. A given
b. A choice
c. A strong possibility
7. Operating within professional boundaries provides the following advantages. Check all that apply.
a. Promotes family-centered care
b. Helps to build trust between professionals and family.
c. Can reduce the family’s anxiety
d. Creates a sense of equality
8. You are at the grocery store and run into one of your First Steps families. You and the family have not previously discussed how to handle such chance encounters. The best action to take is:
a. Say hello and engage in a friendly conversation
b. Politely pretend as if you have not seen them so that you can protect their privacy. Then as their preferences at your next visit.
c. Ignore the family as if you had not seen them so that you can protect their privacy
9. You and one of the families on your caseload are members of the same church. This is considered a dual relationship.
a. True
b. False
10. You have been working with a family for a little over a year and have gotten to know them. Your sitter calls in sick, and you have no alternative day care for your daughter. You are sure your family won’t mind if you bring her with you, so you call your family and ask if it is okay to do so. The family agrees. Is this operating within professional boundaries and ethics?
a. Yes
b. No
11. Professional standards established in Indiana require early interventionists to notify parents in advance of appointments they cannot keep.
a. True
b. False
12. You have a side business in addition to being a First Steps provider. Since you know that the mother in one of your First Steps families uses the make-up that you sell, you leave a catalog with her. This action is appropriate because you aren’t socializing with her by inviting her to a party.
a. True
b. False
13. The mother in one of your First Steps families has really gotten to like you and suggests that you date her brother-in-law. Should you accept her offer to introduce you to him?
a. Yes
b. No
14. Which of the following are not appropriate relationships to form with families on your caseload in First Steps? Check all that apply.
a. Friend
b. Employer
c. Business associate
d. Having the family member as a server at the restaurant you visit
15. Self-disclosure can help to build trust with your families in First Steps, but it can also cause the early interventionist to lose her/his objectivity.
a. True
b. False
16. When early interventionists are tempted to cross a boundary, they can keep themselves in check by:
a. Keeping the focus on the family
b. Keeping the focus on themselves
c. Neither; once they are tempted, the boundary transgression cannot be stopped
17. A mother in one of your First Steps families asks you to buy Girl Scout cookies. Are you compelled to do so? If not, how can you decline?
a. Yes, you will offend her if you don’t buy cookies. There is no way to gracefully decline.
b. No. You can ask if she and her daughter or her daughter’s troop will be selling cookies at a local store and ask when and where.
18. Should a conflict arise with a First Steps family, early interventionists have the following options. Check all that apply.
a. Admit to families that you don’t have the answer right now but that you will discuss this with your supervisor and get back with them
b. Seek answers from professional publications
c. Seek answers from colleagues
d. None of the above; the family will lose trust in you if you don’t have an answer for them when they approach you
19. You attend the wedding of your niece and meet someone who also works in First Steps. You start talking and realize that you know some of the same families within First Steps. The other early interventionist starts telling stories about some of the families that you and she have in common. Is the early interventionist acting within professional boundaries by telling stories? After all, you both know the families, so she’s not revealing secrets.
a. Yes
b. No
20. You are working on a local environmental issue within your community and need signatures for a petition. You notice that a dad in one of your First Steps families has placed a sign in his front yard that opposes the issue. He’s a sure bet for a signature on your campaign. Since he’s posted the sign and you didn’t approach him about his opinion, you are working within professional boundaries when you ask for his signature on your petition.
a. Yes
b. No
FSCT – Professional Boundaries & Ethics in Home Visiting 1