ListenEditorial Comments are provided by the writer in their personal capacity and without prior sight of journal content.
Child and Youth Care workers, supervisors, managers, educators and students may be preparing for travel to St John’s, Newfoundland at the end of June 2026 for the 5th Child and Youth Care World Conference – Healing Through Connection. Some, like me, will have made international travel arrangements from places like South Africa, U.K., Australia and New Zealand. Anyone still hoping to book international travel a month out from the Conference may be out of luck, with the reduced number of flights and now higher prices for every ticket. The world’s petrochemical impasse restricting exit and entry to the oil-rich Persian Gulf is a direct challenge to economic globalisation. It is said that more than a fifth of the World’s oil comes through the Persian Gulf, most destined for Asia, fuelling the world’s manufacturing economy. What challenges might all this pose for the daily work of child and youth care?
For a start, where an employing child and youth care service is located may impact staffing travel issues. Staffing transport may factor across multiple shift changes that impact 168-hour residential group living services whether group homes or residential centres. The cost of travel to and from work may influence further use of carpooling and public transport whenever possible. Group outings and recreational activities may be restricted as agency budget challenges heighten through spiralling fuel costs.
Further budgetary challenges will become prominent as new quantities of food and produce cost more because of surging fuel costs in the preparation, planting, harvesting and delivery of agricultural products to marketplaces where child and youth care workers live and practice. Agency managers and Boards are likely be facing spiralling budget challenges within their windows of 6 to 9-month forecasting. A distinctive feature about these challenges facing local health and social care services is that this time, things are happening very quickly. Public comparisons have been made with the sudden Coronavirus outbreak and its impact on daily life, world-wide.
A “think local” orientation may offer opportunities for daily and weekly child and youth care practices that – until now – may not have featured in daily and weekly programmes, highlighting the practice theme about ‘doing with, not to or for’. Personal fitness themes may feature through the greater use of bicycles, jogging and participation in sporting activities. A ‘grow our own’ produce prospect may generate interest, starting with baby tomatoes, parsley or cilantro in pots or in the ground behind the group home. Some rural centres have used opportunities to engage in horse-riding, the care of livestock in fenced areas and participation in 4H activities. Others still offer neighbourhood routes for youths to deliver local newspapers or get involved with hospitality roles in fast food outlets.
The point of all this is for chid and youth care workers and supervisors to remain pro-active when considering practical ideas about how we can all make the best of the circumstances now facing all parts of our world. Governments are struggling to manage the fiscal impact of the surging cost of oil and related products on their countries and are now seek networking opportunities. It is here that we once more applaud The International Child and Youth Care Network and the founding fathers of CYC-Net – Brian Gannon and Thom Garfat – for their vision and wisdom. Along with Martin Stabrey, they have been guided by the assertion that child and youth care is a profession that impacts the lives of children, young people and their families – doing with, not to or for! Building connections, world-wide.
