Quality standards as an implementation tool of ethical principles within social services

Abstract

Quality standards of social services are one of the three key elements of the system of quality guarantee in social services. They themselves do not initiate new ethical topics, but they put emphasis on some areas and they oblige the provider to document them into the internal materials of the provider. Fulfilling ethical principles during the provision of social services does not only mean seeking a solution that is sufficient, ethics also incorporates the perspective of justice and the common good. By quantifying the measurement of fulfillment in regards to the individual quality standards criteria we can evaluate how we are succeeding in implementing ethical principles into social services.