CYC-Online, July 2025 (No. 317)

Contents

Editorial Comment: Editorial Comment: Strengthening Families and Alternative Care Mechanisms through Capacity Building of Functionaries
Kiran Modi

Beware of the Residential Care Comeback
Kiaras Gharabaghi

The Four R’s of Relational Child and Youth Care Work
Ziigwanbinesii Charles

‘The Space Between’ – Embracing Culture in Residential Care in South Africa from a Western Standpoint
Harrison Dax Nash

Erasure Redux
Hans Skott-Myhre

The “AEF Social Lab”
Marzenka Krejcirik and Magali De Rocco

Postcard from Leon Fulcher

CYC WORLD CONFERENCE 2026

Connecting Through Relationship

24-26 June 2026
St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

CALL FOR PAPERS

In June 2013 the first ever Child and Youth Care World Conference, Connecting at the Crossroads, was held in St. John’s. This event was hosted by the Child and Youth Care Association of Newfoundland and Labrador in collaboration with the International Child and Youth Care Network (CYC-Net). The theme of that conference was focused on connecting across geography, across disciplines, across generations and across practice domains.

In 2026, the Child and Youth Care World Conference is returning to where it all began! The theme for the upcoming conference is Connecting through Relationship. We are still connecting through all the areas identified in 2013, and we are also connecting to our history, to each other, and to the young people and families we serve.

We are delighted to announce that the Call for Proposals has been released here.

The deadline for submitting a proposal is October 15, 2025.

Relational Practice as a concept within the caring professions (including Child & Youth Care, Social Care, Social Work, Education, Medicine, Psychology etc), has grown from the work of many pioneers over recent decades. Now, within a post-Covid, AI, and politically unstable landscape, it has become ever more necessary that the hard fought for ‘learning and leadership’ continues to be remembered and built on by the younger generations of practitioners, educators and researchers.

The successful UNITY 2024 conference concentrated its attention on ‘Resetting The Foundation Stones of Relational Practice’, and this year, UNITY 2025 will continue to build on this learning, sharing and exploration by creating a space to meet with colleagues from around the world, listen to and engage in presentations and workshops, get involved in conversations and discussions, and generally get a chance to contribute to the plan for ‘developing the learning’ and discussing ‘future leadership and approaches’ within the relational framework.

Speakers from around the world will present across a spectrum of related topics that can be viewed as relevant to the ‘leading and learning’ themes. Sessions will speak to the relevance and utility of the conference theme and support attendees to build on what we already know to shape future leadership.

Visit the Unity 2025 web site for the full program and to register.