ListenAt the end of February, Dr Leon Fulcher was elected Chairman of CYC-Net’s Board of Governors by his fellow Board Members. See the full list of Board members here.
We are pleased to record this event on the pages of CYC-Online , to which he has contributed his monthly column (never missing a month!) since June 1999. See his first Post Card which came from Beijing!
To introduce Leon formally ...
Leon Fulcher is a Social Work and Child and Youth Care Research and Training Consultant with experience in North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland, New Zealand, Malaysia, China and the United Arab Emirates. He is presently assisting the UK s largest independent foster care agency (www.thefca.co.uk) and the UK s largest multi-service agency for youths (www.kibble.org) to develop flexible education and e-learning opportunities for carers and care workers staff via The Learning Zone at www.cyc-net.org.
Leon writes:
On Being Elected to Chair the Board of the International Child and Youth Care Network
I have been asked to prepare a short Guest Editorial following a decision by the Board of Governors of CYC-Net to elect me Chairperson of the Board. So it seems only fitting that I thank each member of the Board of Governors, drawn from Africa, Australia, Europe, Canada and the United States, for giving me their vote of confidence about helping take the on-line International Child and Youth Care Network forward through the coming years.
Thanks also go to Brian Gannon, Martin Stabrey and the CYC-Net team in Cape Town for all the many “nuts and bolts” kinds of things they do to keep CYC-Net growing and getting better and better.
Thanks to the ubiquitous Thom Garfat, arguably the cyberspace guru of Child and Youth Care, for the many encouraging, supportive and challenging ways that he engages the profession and nurtures it forward.
Thanks go especially to all the regular monthly contributors to CYC-Online , as well as to those who have made selective contributions over the years. Your contributions are particularly welcome as reminders about what is happening with Child and Youth Care in different parts of the world.
I would like to give special acknowledgement to our joint sponsors of The Learning Zone, Kibble Education and Care Centre in Scotland. It is a big mission that they have launched with CYC-Net and we look forward to the partnership.
And finally, to the international Child and Youth Care family who participate in and share moments of practice through the Discussion List: Kia ora, Gid'daye, Salamat Datang, Assalaam Alaikum, Ni Hau, Bon Jour, Guten Tag, Warm Greetings and Howdy!
Why have I agreed to become the first Chairman of the Board of Governors for CYC-net? The simple answer is that somebody needed to step up and have a go at trying to secure the future for CYC-Net. It is just too valuable a resource to let it disappear.
One of the unique features of CYC-Net is that we have ongoing contact with more than 3400 Child and Youth Care workers every week. If it works, don’t tinker with it is the lesson my father taught me. So, in my role, I won’t encourage tinkering around with a successful operation. I do want to involve you “the international network of Child and Youth Care workers “during the coming months in further developing and shaping the future of CYC-Net.
Over the past decade, the International Child and Youth Care Network has become a very reputable service to the international community of Child and Youth Care workers. My working brief or mandate as the first Chair is to facilitate a secure future for CYC-Net. So let’s start planning strategically for the next decade!
Agenda Building: 2008-2010
1. Financial Stability: This is essential if CYC-net is to consolidate and move forward, growing with the profession. Whatever we do, accessibility must remain a core value. However, being valued as a profession means investing in our own support. There are significant numbers of Child and Youth Care students attending colleges and universities in the Western world whose institutions make no contribution whatsoever to this educational resource. As with Child and Youth Care practice, the answer will lie in finding value-added opportunities to contribute and also generate funding.
2. An Active International Board of Directors is essential if we are to secure a promising future for CYC-Net. I will be seeking Board Members who volunteer to be active members for at least 3 years who will contribute their own unique strategic skills towards making this enterprise even more successful.
3. Expanding the very popular Child and Youth Care Discussion List is also worthy of consideration. In the past, efforts have been made to develop a special discussion list around the theme of Supervision. It may be that we invite participants to steer these developments in directions they think they need to go.
4. The Learning Zone at www.cyc-net.org and www.sepodcasts.org are two resources launched quietly in 2007 that offer some very good on-line professional education and training materials for Child and Youth Care workers. The Learning Zone will be expanding over the next few months to include a new on-line course for foster carers. Over the next few weeks we will be opening invitations for up to 60 CYC-Net people to join what Thom, Brian and I have agreed to call Mastery Classes for prospective tutors wishing to make use of the 28 module on-line course with students or trainees in their own college or agency. Volunteers will need to make a 6-month commitment to work through every module systematically and complete all of the assessments. Opportunities will be available for weekly forum interaction and learner blogs. So be watching for our Call for Volunteers!
5. On Being A Child and Youth Care Networker! Logging in to www.cyc-net.org at least on a weekly basis makes one a Child and Youth Care Networker. By registering with the Discussion List, you get the benefits of Child and Youth Care Networking and the invitation is always open for you to contribute to ongoing discussion of issues at the heart of Child and Youth Care practice. We would like to invite an even wider range of contributions, from art work and poetry, to short stories, essays, debate topics. If it’s connected with Child and Youth Care, anywhere in the world, we are keen to network with you. Your profession needs that!
So there you have it, a few words from the new Chairperson of the CYC-Net Board of Governors. Thank goodness I take on these duties at the start of the Chinese Year of the Rat. Remember that the Chinese do not view rats in negative terms as most Westerners portray them. Rats are hard-working, clever, sociable and family-minded. They also have broad interests and have an incredible ability to adapt to the environment and swiftly react to changes. So, if you feel like joining the Rat-Pack network with other Child and Youth Care workers planning for the future of www.cyc-net.org, let us know. We would welcome your ideas!
