Listen to thisWell, never one to sit still for too long, I have decided to take on a new challenge. Specifically, along with my friend and colleague Ben Anderson-Nathe from Portland State University, we have taken on the Editorship of Child & Youth Services, a quarterly journal published by Taylor & Francis, based in the US with branch offices and affiliates all over the world. This is not actually a new journal; in fact, it has existed for just over 30 years, most recently under the Editorship of Doug Magnuson of the University of Victoria. In the past, Child & Youth Services published full manuscript submissions, some single authored and others collections of articles related to particular topics. The line up in recent years included some key works in our field such as Thom Garfat’s collection entitled A Child and Youth Care Approach to Working with Families (2003; Vol. 25) and James Anglin's Pain, Normality and the Struggle for Congruence (2002; Vol. 24). Ben contributed Not Knowing What to Do (2008; Vol. 30, 1/2) and I wrote Professional Issues in Child and Youth Care Practice (2008; Vol. 30, 3/4).
As we take over as Editors of this journal, the format will change to a quarterly volume with articles covering the full spectrum of child and youth services from around the world. Our core goal with this journal is to expand the conversations about Child and Youth Care practice not only across the English-speaking world but also to those areas where other languages are spoken but the thinking and practice of children's services is such that we will all benefit from knowledge exchange. To this end we have already added to the Editorial Board of the journal Dr. Christoph Steinebach from Germany as well as Merle Allsopp from South Africa, and we are looking to add additional Board Members from the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zeeland as well as from across Europe, Latin America and Asia. So if you are interested in being part of shaping the future of this journal, please contact either one of us (k.gharabaghi@ryerson.ca or banders@pdx.edu).
Over the past few weeks, we have sought to articulate as clearly as possible our core beliefs and values for this journal:
We believe that children and youth, no matter what challenges they may face, are citizens of the world, and that therefore those of us privileged to contemplate their status ought to always be engaged with the world as a whole “therefore, we will work hard to break through boundaries and frontiers dividing our global community and ensure that every aspect of Child & Youth Services is global in content, scope and process.
We are committed to valuing different ways of knowing; while not averse to orthodox research methodologies, we are particularly interested in other forms and approaches, including indigenous/aboriginal ways of knowing, story-telling, sketching, grounded theory, social learning, and what might broadly be referred to as reflective contemplation;
Our goal is to advance knowledge and thinking about relational engagement with children, youth, their families and communities, amongst academics as well as practitioners;
We are committed to working hard at being partners to already existing platforms for our disciplines, including on-line Child and Youth Care networks, independent periodical publications that provide innovative and creative content as well as conference proceedings, professional associations and informal gatherings of academics and professionals committed to the relational engagement of children, youth, their families and communities;
We believe in the importance of on-going dialogue amongst academics and practitioners, and the urgency of engagement between those in the fortunate position to contemplate and those pressed to act in the moment and through the crises.
We know that for our values to be sustained we will require your support and guidance. With this letter, we wish to declare, with pride and some anxiety, that we are here, ready to engage, offering our openness and extending our hands in the hopes of long lasting relational connections with all of you.
For me, taking on this new endeavor, while exciting and challenging, also presents some conflicts that I might as well declare right from the start. On the one hand, I would very much like for you to consider submitting papers to us, and perhaps even ideas for special issues on particular themes or topics. On the other hand, I remain loyal to several other forums that also invite your contributions on an on-going basis. First and foremost, of course, there is CYC-Net, and it must be said that both the On-Line Journal and the Discussion Forums of CYC-Net ought to remain the primary place of engagement for all of you. Beyond CYC-Net, I cannot help but recommend Canada’s premier journal of Child and Youth Care practice, Relational Child and Youth Care Practice and encourage everyone to submit papers there (rcycp@ryerson.ca) and subscribe to this journal. Aside from being fiercely independent, RCYCP always offers excellent (and peer-reviewed) scholarly content mixed with very practice-oriented contributions focused on the relational context of being with young persons. And there are many other wonderful publications that have been meaningful to me over the years; Reclaiming Children and Youth (US), the Scottish Journal of Residential Care and also Child and Youth Care Work (South Africa, see the web site of the National Association of Child Care Workers in South Africa, www.naccw.org.za).
So, while I continue my support and endorsement of these and other wonderful publications, this is, after all, my column, so here is my quick pitch:
Please consider submitting papers to Child & Youth Services, preferably covering thinking, action and practice in places around the world. And if you have any suggestions you would like us to consider that relate to making this journal an open, accessible and meaningful space for global conversations about being with children, youth and families, please do not hesitate to send these to us. We would love to hear from you!
