Social workers have always paid careful attention to the ethical dilemmas in their practice. The power invested by the law in some of the social work tasks make this imperative. The complexities of the rights of each individual within the family are keenly debated in current social work practice. In legal situations who is the client? Does each family member have appropriate representation and so on. While the issues can be clarified it is not always simple to solve an ethical dilemma since the rights and interests of the individuals may be in opposition.