A client abruptly stopped coming to sessions after 6 weeks. He calls the social worker and asks for a copy of his record about a month later. There is nothing in the record that is harmful to the client, but the social worker refuses to give it to him. In this situation, the social worker’s actions are:

Social workers should provide clients with reasonable access to their records. Social workers who are concerned that clients’ access to their records could cause serious misunderstanding or harm to a client should provide assistance in interpreting the records and consultation with a client regarding the records. Social workers should limit clients’ access to their records, or portions of their records, only in exceptional circumstances when there is compelling evidence that such access would cause serious harm to a client. In this case vignette, there was not a risk of harm due to the release, so the social worker should have provided access; however, information can be withheld in some circumstances, as described, as long as the request and the reason for the denial is documented in the client’s file.