Frontline Initiative Ethics

The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) is pleased to present the Code of Ethics for Direct Support Professionals. This Code is the result of much hard work from many dedicated people over the past two years. This development process began with many state and local workshops with DSPs from all over the country helping to identify and define the ethical dilemmas they face in the course of their day-to-day work with people who receive support services in the community. Once common experiences were identified and categorized, a national workshop was held which brought together DSPs, self-advocates, managers, administrators, and educators to draft the Code of Ethics. This draft was then validated through a survey process.

 We believe that the resulting Code of Ethics will serve as a valuable tool and resource for DSPs as they work to support people in their communities. As DSPs across the country have interacted with and used the Code through workshops and training sessions, they have expressed that the Code does provide valuable assistance in helping them to problem-solve when faced with ethical questions.

We encourage DSPs to embrace this Code and to use it as a guiding principle in the course of their everyday work. We further encourage consumers of support services and agencies to adopt the Code as an expectation of quality for the DSPs with whom they work.

A warm hearted thank-you to the many people who supported the development of this Code either through participation in a workshop, drafting the words, or completing the validation survey. This valuable tool would not have been possible without your assistance and support.