Since it's founding in 1997, the CYC-Net discussion group has been asked thousands of questions. These questions often generate many replies from people in all spheres of the Child and Youth Care profession and contain personal experiences, viewpoints, as well as recommended resources.
Below are some of the threads of discussions on varying Child and Youth Care related topics.
Questions and Responses have been reproduced verbatim.
Listen to thisHi,
I am currently in training to be a Police Officer in Newfoundland, Canada. Before taking this path I spent 9 years working as a front line Child, Youth and Family support worker. As one of the final pieces of my training, I have to submit a paper discussing an issue relevant to policing. I have chosen to discuss policing youth in care.
This is a very important topic that I feel deserves more attention. I am wondering if anyone can think of a journal article, paper, etc that may be a helpful resource.
Thanks
Jason
...
I sent you a few articles on Restorative alternatives to policing based on extensive work in the U.K. If you want to play around with the terms of your discussion you could reframe this as the "criminalization of youth in care" or is just policing? This could be a great debate for a paper.
Good luck.
Rick Kelly
...
Hi Jason,
I would suggest connecting with Edmonton Police Services who will connect you with NET (Neighborhood Empowerment Teams) who are usually a Police Officer/ Social-Youth Worker folks who have done some excellent work with agencies that have group homes in various communities; they have a very solid understanding of the relevance of policing youth in care and can hopefully provide you with further information for your paper. Good Luck!
Alice Althouse
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What do you mean by policing youth in care? Isn't that what already happens in most areas? Perhaps you can be more specific, but if my assumptions are correct on what you mean by policing is controlling kids bodies, locking them up, restraining them, I would say we need less of that and more loving kids in care.
I hope to learn something more.
Peter DeLong
…
Hi Jason again…
I believe this is a very important topic because of the “stigma” attached to “police” with the youth we serve; unfortunately this exists, and will not go away all too soon. Although some our youth’s perspective is this, they most certainly have an expectation of the “police” to “’protect and serve” them, when they are in situations deeming this; that being said, I believe that your work and experience as a Child & Youth Worker is going to give you a very different and more positive perspective around this. We have been fortunate to work with some excellent Police officers who work hard to “understand” the challenges our youth face, and they are there to understand, support, guide as well as to “protect and serve”. Good on you!
Alice Althouse
