Your client’s parent coaches your kid’s soccer team. Your supervisee’s spouse works at the clinic down the street. The family you just took on attends your church. If you practice ABA in a small town or a tight-knit professional community, these aren’t hypothetical exercises from a graduate ethics course. They’re just… your week.
The ethics code doesn’t prohibit all dual relationships. It recognizes that in some contexts, they’re unavoidable. What it requires is that you identify them, evaluate the risk, and take steps to mitigate harm. That sounds simple on paper. In practice, it’s one of the hardest things we do.
Why dual relationships are risky
The risk isn’t the relationship itself. It’s what the relationship does to your professional judgment. A BCBA who socializes regularly with a client’s family may soften clinical recommendations to avoid awkwardness at the next neighborhood barbecue. A supervisor who’s close friends with their supervisee may pull punches on corrective feedback. Power differentials don’t disappear because people are friendly — they become harder to see.
Confidentiality gets complicated too. When your client’s mother mentions something about her child’s behavior at a church potluck, are you in a clinical conversation or a social one? When a colleague at your gym asks how “that tough case” is going, the line between professional discussion and casual gossip blurs fast.
When you can’t just refer out
In a large city, you can restructure services or refer to another provider. In a small community, there might be one BCBA within a 90-minute drive. Refusing to serve a family because you know them socially could mean that family gets no services at all. The waitlist is already months long.
In these cases, the ethical path isn’t avoidance — it’s management. The question shifts from “how do I prevent this?” to “how do I handle this responsibly?”
Three real scenarios
The church overlap. You’ve been providing services to a family for six months when the mother starts attending your church. You see her at services, potlucks, volunteer events. Other church members figure out the connection. The management: have a direct conversation. Acknowledge the overlap. Agree that clinical matters stay out of social settings. Document the conversation and the boundaries in your file. Revisit if circumstances change — like if she joins a small group you lead.
The friend who needs supervision. A colleague you’ve been friends with for years is pursuing her BCBA and needs supervision hours. You’re the only qualified supervisor at your agency. Can you honestly tell your friend her functional analysis was poorly conducted? Can you document a performance concern that might delay her certification? Maybe — but the friendship creates pressure in both directions. If you proceed, establish a formal agreement that explicitly addresses the friendship. Build in periodic check-ins about whether the dual relationship is affecting the supervision. Consider having a third party review your documentation.
The community board. You serve on a local disability services board alongside the parent of a current client. You’re both advocating for the same population, but now your professional relationship with this family has a political dimension. Decisions you make on the board could affect services their child receives. Disclose the conflict to the board. Recuse yourself from votes that directly affect the family. Document everything.
The practitioners who handle dual relationships well aren’t the ones who never encounter them. They’re the ones who name them early, think critically about the risks, and document their reasoning.
Documentation and consultation
Every dual relationship you identify should be documented — what the relationship is, what risks you’ve identified, what steps you’re taking, and how you’ll monitor the situation. This isn’t about covering yourself legally (though it does that). It’s about forcing yourself to think through the situation systematically rather than hoping it works out.
Consultation matters too. Talk to a colleague or mentor — not to get permission, but to get perspective. A trusted outside view can surface risks you’ve normalized. And consultation should be ongoing, not a one-time conversation. Dual relationships shift over time. Your management strategies need to shift with them.
Ethics in this field isn’t about following rules perfectly in a controlled environment. It’s about making sound judgments in messy situations where the textbook answer doesn’t quite fit. That’s harder. It’s also more important.
