Listen to thisAbstract: The topic of professionalization in Child and Youth Care is one that continues to be debated throughout the profession. I was introduced to this debate after I graduated with my diploma in Child and Youth Care. My interest in the debate led me on a personal exploration of the positive impact professionalization in Child and Youth Care would have on children, youth, families, and workers. This article traces my journey through the evolution of my beliefs and realizations about the effect that professionalization of Child and Youth Care would have.
Throughout the last four years I have been on a journey. When I first realized that I had an interest in professionalization in Child and Youth Care, I was not aware that it would consume so much time and energy. My journey started when I had an encounter with the guardian of a child who was staying at the group home where I worked. She felt that I was not qualified to work with her child. I was shocked and angry at her response toward me: I felt I had enough education and experience to work with her child. This occurrence sparked my interest in what being a professional Child and Youth Care practitioner was all about.
Before this encounter, I had considered myself a professional. I had gone to college, studied a particular field of human development, and was working with this particular population. Why didn’t this woman see me as a professional? Why did she doubt my skills to work with youth even though she knew that I was educated? What did being a professional mean?
These questions disturbed me because at the time I thought of professionalism on a personal basis. My impression of being a professional was coming to work on time, meeting deadlines, dressing appropriately, accurately presenting information at case conferences, and working hard to make a difference for children and families. I had no idea about the pressures of accountability, thoughtfulness, liability, and politics. I had a personal understanding of professionalization, but I needed to look at professionalization in the field of Child and Youth Care (CYC).
When I started my first year of university, I began to experience Child and Youth Care on a provincial level. Matthew’s Story, the Report of the Gove Inquiry into Child Protection (Gove,1995) had just been released and Child and Youth Care practitioners and instructors were not happy with what this meant for Child and Youth Care in British Columbia. The Gove Report was released after the investigation of the death of a child in care. The report examined the case of a boy named Matthew who died while he was in the care of the Ministry of Social Services, leading the public and press to become concerned with how services were being directed and delivered to children, youth and families in the province. Judge Gove had been asked to head an investigation to examine the structure and operation of the child protection system. He examined what was currently in place to protect children and what needed to be done differently to protect them better.
Shortly after the investigation started, Gove expanded his mandate to examine the broad cross-ministry child welfare system. After a thorough investigation from the senior management level to the front line, several concerns were brought forward, including the enormous caseloads that child protection workers carry. Gove noted that, “during the 1993/94 year a Family Service Social Worker carried an average of 39 cases” (Gove,1995, p. 36). The Child Welfare League of America recommends an average of 20 cases per worker. Qualifications of the Ministry employees provoked much discussion as well. The report stated that, “of the 623 Social Workers province wide who identified themselves as involved in “child protection” work, 54% had some social work education, 38% had a BSW or BSW and other training; nine percent had a MSW; seven percent had social work education below the BSW level. Nearly 46% had no social work education” (Gove,1995, p. 150).
These two concerns led to recommendations that were meant to have a positive effect on the receivers of the services from the child welfare system. Smaller caseloads for child protection workers were recommended, entailing the hiring of almost 200 workers. A multi-disciplinary approach was prepared for services to cover gaps in the system. Lastly, only qualified workers were to be hired in the child welfare system. Judge Gove also stipulated that structural changes needed to be made at the Ministry level as well. He believed that a new Ministry was needed to provide service to children and families, as the current structure was beyond repair. Although the report stated that the Ministry would adopt a multi-disciplinary approach, the only qualifications stipulated for child protection workers was a BSW or MSW degree. This meant that only those who had graduated with a university degree in social work could be employed as child protection workers. Those who had been working in the former Ministry of Social Services with other forms of education and experience such as Child and Youth Care needed to go back to school or change their profession. This recommendation thus eliminated all of the related fields in human and social development (for example, Child and Youth Care, psychology, education, and sociology).
As I experienced the Ministry “make-over,” my interest in professionalization of Child and Youth Care grew considerably and I wanted to know what it meant for Child and Youth Care to be, in effect, written out of the plan for a future in child protection within the new Ministry for Children and Families.
How could a degree that was child and youth related be overlooked for a job that specifically addressed the issues of young people? Who was doing anything about the elimination of Child and Youth Care from the Ministry for Children and Families? Whose responsibility was it to promote CYC, to explain what it stood for and to show what it could offer?
These questions influenced me to pursue a directed study for academic credit on the professionalization in Child and Youth Care in my fourth year of my BA in CYC. Initially, I started to look at professionalization by reading the literature. The literature on professionalization in Child and Youth Care stated that it was important for this discipline to become a profession, but did not indicate clearly how workers could go about doing this. I had some basic ideas about what I thought Child and Youth Care practitioners could do, but I decided to get in touch with people who had been involved in Child and Youth Care in different capacities for different amounts of time. I talked with instructors from the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria, and with Child and Youth Care practitioners in the community. As I chatted with them, I sought answers that I needed to help me form my thoughts on this topic. I had designed a questionnaire with specific questions that I thought would bring forward the information that I needed, although I found that people had more they wanted to say regarding my questions. Some people were involved directly in advocating for professionalization at a legislative level. Others had reflected upon the issue on an academic or personal level. I was learning a great deal from my conversations with the practicing professionals and the professors.
It appeared that the majority of workers I talked to thought that professionalization of Child and Youth Care on a legislative level was a feasible option to be considered. Two primary reasons were: (a) Child and Youth Care trained workers were qualified to work with this specific population and should be acknowledged for it; and (b) professionalization would guarantee better services for children, youth, and families. It was believed by many workers that being recognized as professionals would also guarantee better resources and working conditions for workers.
There were people who said that they did not believe they had been inhibited in their career by having a BA degree in CYC. They would like Child and Youth Care to be legislated to attain better working conditions and increased credibility, but found their degree had already helped them. Comments were made about how employers wanted more information about what a Child and Youth Care degree was, and when they found out, how excited and impressed they were.
But it was not the people who thought Child and Youth Care should be professionalized that helped me the most with the evolution in my learning. It was those who thought Child and Youth Care should not become a profession that captured more of my interest. I found it easy to see why people thought Child and Youth Care should become a profession because I had become aware of all the benefits, but I had difficulty understanding why others believed that Child and Youth Care should not be a profession. Some individuals thought that Child and Youth Care was created as an inexpensive form of child psychology, and thus making it a profession would only undermine the reason it was created. Others felt that Child and Youth Care was a group of educated people whose beliefs and values would be strained if they were to become professionals. In this perspective, Child and Youth Care is an occupation that works with the client, for the client, and is directed by the client. Some thought that with professionalization this quality would be lost.
These comments led me to think of professionalization from both a negative and positive perspective. I still was standing firm with my idea that Child and Youth Care should become a legislated profession, but now was thinking in a very different way than I had been. There are not only people with university degrees to consider, but also people with diplomas and people working in care facilities without any formal education at all. I was feeling overwhelmed. All of the sudden it was not as easy for me to say “Yes, Child and Youth Care should become a profession and these are the educational qualifications and skills that one needs to have to work with youth,” because it wasn’t about one section of Child and Youth Care practitioners, it was about all Child and Youth Care practitioners.
The security I thought professionalization in Child and Youth Care brought with it was now being called into question. It seemed true to me that professionalization would not guarantee better services or better workers or any other benefits to clients.
Professionalization was only part of a much larger question that was not simply about the Child and Youth Care degree but about how services that are provided for children, youth, and families are delivered, maintained, and evaluated. “How did the children, youth, and families end up on the bottom of the list of the priorities of the government?” I asked myself. If children, youth, and families were important, then the government would make a decision to provide funding for the services to ensure that qualified and educated people would be delivering and maintaining resources. Why should Child and Youth Care professionalize, and how would this help the clients?
After talking to people about professionalization, my belief had not changed, but my thinking had expanded considerably. My ideas had changed from personal thoughts and opinions to informed and educated positions. I no longer saw the professionalization of Child and Youth Care primarily as a way to improve salaries, benefits, and working conditions. I now saw the professionalization of Child and Youth Care as part of the evolutionary process that is a necessary step in order for this field to serve children and families better. In order to develop and function effectively, Child and Youth Care workers need to evolve to another level. When Child and Youth Care was first developed, it may have been formed as a type of “glorified” child minding, with an emphasis on basic behaviour management, but with the extended education of a degree program, the various field-related research initiatives, and the formation of provincial, national, and international associations, Child and Youth Care has become more sophisticated and multifaceted. If Child and Youth Care does not continue to professionalize, it will lack recognition and respect for the achievements already made. Child and Youth Care is no longer simply care-taking in residential and daycare settings; it consists of a complex assortment of counselling and intervention services in schools, alcohol and drug programs, residential crisis settings, community-based programs, recreation, health services, family services, hospitals, international programs, hospices, and research, training, administration, and service co-ordination functions. Times have changed and so must CYC. I do not see the professionalization process as a detriment to CYC; I now see it as a clear advantage. I agree with the comments about CYC’s primary focus on the needs of, and working with, the clients, and on a commitment to values, beliefs and a child-centred way of working that is different from other professions. And I agree that Child and Youth Care would not fit easily into models that more traditional professions have developed that tend to focus less and less on the people they are serving. However, I do not think that the professionalization of Child and Youth Care has to rob the field of these values and beliefs, but can maintain truly client-centred work. I think that assuming that these values and beliefs may be damaged by professionalization is underestimating the commitment and creativity of the many graduates, professors and programs that educate people in CYC.
I believe that the process of professionalization should be carefully examined and researched to combat the fears surrounding Child and Youth Care identity that some practitioners have. The Child and Youth Care field is so diverse that, in order to create a model that represents CYC, creativity, open-mindedness and respect are needed. Having representation from educational institutions, the public, and the government would produce a rich mixture of ideas and approaches. A model of what a Child and Youth Care professional is will need to be designed by Child and Youth Care workers, Child and Youth Care educators representing various institutions, and Child and Youth Care students. This will ensure that the diverse experiences, knowledge, and thinking of all of these groups will contribute to the process. The process that people would go through to develop an appropriate model of professionalization for Child and Youth Care would need to be congruent with the unique model that would emerge. This will be a complex and demanding process because the Child and Youth Care field is so diverse and relatively unstructured at the present. I believe, though, that the process of discussing how Child and Youth Care should professionalize needs to be initiated before the government decides on criteria for workers without having appropriate input from the practitioners, educators, and students of CYC.
My initial question, “Should Child and Youth Care become a recognized profession?” has been answered in the affirmative. However, it is easy enough to have such an answer and not do anything about it. I felt overwhelmed when I came to my conclusion, and I had a hard time focusing on what I could be doing. After reflecting upon my conversations with others and my journey toward professionalization, I have formulated some ideas of what Child and Youth Care workers and students can do to blaze the trail that Child and Youth Care needs to travel to become professionalized.
First, I think that everyone in Child and Youth Care needs to get involved and demonstrate their commitment and interest in professionalization. It is easy enough to say, “I want Child and Youth Care to become a profession,” and then let someone else assume the leadership role. I also understand that getting involved takes time and energy, and that many people who work with youth and families often lack the extra time or the emotional energy after a 40-50 hour work week. There are many things that each of us can do to get involved at a personal and field level that will make a difference, but not drain the soul.
Second, those who have pursued formal education and training need to be proud of the education and experience they have attained as Child and Youth Care professionals. After two to ten years of post-secondary education, graduates should take time to articulate to others what they have accomplished and learned. Now that I have formally graduated with both a diploma and a degree, I am proud to say that I have a professional education that will assist me to make people’s lives a little better. At the same time, if there are things that we think should change, we need to do something about them. Let a professor know that you think a course needs a new focus or an assignment could be done differently. It’s all part of the evolution. It starts on an individual level and must be taken to a systemic level. Those of us at educational institutions need to work as a professor-student team and keep each other updated with discussion about CYC-related incidents or opinions about theories and putting theory into actual practice. On a professional level, if there is something about a program that may not be meeting the needs of the clients, that excludes people, or is of concern in other areas, tell someone. It doesn’t take long for people doing a job for a couple years to become “stuck” in one way of doing something. Opinions should be asked for and expected from employees. It’s all part of the evolution. Again, it starts on an individual level. We are taught in Child and Youth Care to be assertive, respect boundaries, and help with personal change. Our work needs to start with ourselves and our Child and Youth Care organizations.
When we are employed or looking for work in the community, we need to educate people on what a Child and Youth Care degree represents. Explain and demonstrate your qualifications and skills. Become involved in committees that promote change within your organization and within your community. Our voices need to be heard; let them know who we are!
And there are things that need to be done in our professional organizations as well. Some of these tasks can be done by individuals and others will have to be done in groups or task forces. Individually, Child and Youth Care workers can present workshops, co-ordinate conferences, and plan special events through their organizations and agencies.
As a professional group, Child and Youth Care needs to form a body that is accountable for ensuring the quality of workers. Although this aspect is like other professions, where people have become licensed or certified to work in their field, I am proposing that Child and Youth Care have a way of self-regulating that is suited for the nature of CYC.
I still feel overwhelmed by it all, but I believe that I have a better informed perspective on what the professionalization of Child and Youth Care would mean to the government, private funders, other fields of study, the practitioners, but most importantly, the children, youth, and families with whom we work. Thinking of the benefits for the last groups mentioned, I cannot think of a better reason for all sectors of Child and Youth Care to come together and articulate what they would like to see Child and Youth Care become as a profession. What it comes down to is that Child and Youth Care workers are specifically trained and educated to work with children and families, and they are good for children.
Postscript: During the finalization of this article the new Ministry for Children and Families in British Columbia announced a change in the qualifications for all child welfare positions, including child protection. The following degrees have been added as acceptable for all of these positions: BA in Child and Youth Care, master’s in psychology, and master’s in nursing. This change has come about after intensive documentation and numerous meetings between Child and Youth Care educators, members of the Child and Youth Care professional association in B.C., and allied human service educators. This shift in ideas and opinions at a Ministry level reaffirms my belief in the power to make change and the importance of our profession.
References
Gove, T. (1995). Report of the Gove Inquiry into Child Protection. Victoria, BC: Government of British Columbia.
This feature: Beresh, D. (1998). Becoming Professional: A New Graduate’s Perspective. Journal of Child and Youth Care, 12, 4. 1998. pp. 87-93
