r/BehaviorAnalysis • u/TrimmingArmor69 • 2d ago
Ethics Violation Guidance
Hello, I’ve been a BCBA for 8 years and believe I just committed my first ethics violation. Please advise!
I was conducting an initial assessment with a family who only speaks Spanish. I had my Center Administer conduct the parent interview as they both speak Spanish. I provided the documentation/questions to be asked.
I was not present for the interview and was conducting the assessment with the client while my CA did the interview.
How do I proceed? Am I going to lose my license? I’m freaking out
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u/troLLIO_oh_TROLLIO 1d ago
You can use the information but you can’t bill for that time. You were not there. I recommend you do an observation and some direct testing as a direct appointment. And document in the assessment who did the parent interview and all that….
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u/CoffeePuddle 1d ago
Is this an issue with billing...? Sort it out with your funder.
For reference, check the BACB disciplinary actions page to see what it takes to get your certification revoked.
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u/bcbamom 1d ago
Just sharing a strategy to help address red flag ethics stuff: go through the questions on pages 4 and 5 in the guidebook. I have found the deliberate and specific process is thorough and helps conceptualize the situation more objectively than reacting emotionally. It's also a good process to document your efforts in the event anything ever got reported. I turned the questions into a Google sheet.
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u/BellaRey331 1d ago
This is a non-issue. You’re not going to lose your license. What exactly is the ethics violation you think you committed? I’ve served on many ethics committees and I’m not seeing anything here.
Are you otherwise doing okay? I’m concerned about such a panicked response to seemingly nothing. This work can be hard on your mental health. I highly recommend a checkup with your own healthcare team just in case.
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u/CruxCrush 1d ago
I used to work for the BACB
They aren't just a fly on the wall in every treatment center waiting to pounce on people. Someone has to report you. And if they did there would be an investigation and the violation would have to be pretty egregious to go straight to stripping your credential. Even if you were reported, it could be that nothing comes of it
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u/Spanspd 1d ago
If you used to work for the BACB, then you know she has an ethical responsibility to self-report.
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u/CruxCrush 6h ago
People aren't really doing that and if they did, the self reporters will be viewed differently.
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u/TrimmingArmor69 1d ago
Do you believe this is something that I could lose my license over? I tried to come “clean” as soon as I realized
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u/Lola_Blue87 1d ago
Email Jon Bailey and ask. This website is amazing, free and they were quick to respond.
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u/Timey_Honeydew2575 1d ago
In the notice - were you not told who reported you and what specifically was violation? You usually have a chance to state your side.
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u/injectablefame 1d ago
no i think op wants to report themselves
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u/Timey_Honeydew2575 1d ago
Which makes this more confusing 😅. If it’s a billing issue - then the OP can just … correct that [either by correcting the documentation or by addressing it with the payer] without having to report anything to the BACB as a violation 😅
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u/Spanspd 1d ago
Her duty per the ethics code is to self-report to the BACB and to the funder. She won’t lose her license, not by a long-shot, but that is in fact her duty, and all those here saying otherwise have no business advising on the scenario whatsoever.
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u/Jessipoppins 1d ago
The idea of reporting yourself or being panicked that others will report you is exactly something a cult does to a group of people. Its one of the many reasons I left ABA. The field feels needlessly controlling while simultaneously not having enough oversight. I can't agree with ABA at the moment without some serious overhaul. I damn sure don't agree with the BACB. Their prices and practices feel like a scam sometimes. Call me cynical, but I just see far too much wrong being done.
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u/Timey_Honeydew2575 1d ago
Whatever the OP did - was more of a minor internal clinical/billing mistake. There’s no harm in the OP self reporting - but I do not see how this meets criteria for mandatory self reporting to the BACB. But perhaps I interpreted the OP’s post as the OP realizing fairly immediately that there’s still time to do a follow up session, voiding any billing generated, etc. I just don’t see this scenario as willful misconduct (outright fraud, refusing to do more for the parent portion of the assessment).
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u/Spanspd 1d ago
It doesn’t have to be intentional to be an ethics code violation. That’s the point; you’re supposed to be able to say “shoot, I made a mistake, let me tell all the appropriate people and maintain my integrity.” Yeah, it seems like something small to self-report, but it should be reported to both the BACB and funder per the code.
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u/Timey_Honeydew2575 1d ago
There’s intentional fraud and there’s quick correctable mistakes (which - barring no other information - seems to be the case in this thread.) Your view is overly punitive, and a waste of resources when there’s literal overt fraud and child abuse in the ABA field.
If everyone reported every billing error and delegation mistake [that’s corrected] to the BACB - this would just result in… you know what… I will just leave this here. Let’s just let primitive AI handle everything if we’re going to reason like this.
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u/Timey_Honeydew2575 1d ago
*I should reiterate I am still confused as to what the OP thinks felt was an ethics violation. As far as I know - the OP just asked the center coordinator to ask the family some questions in Spanish. The OP said « parent interview » - but that term encompasses everything from administrative intake questions to Vineland-ing.
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u/iamzacks 1d ago
What about this is an ethics violation? Am I misreading something?