Cream City Dreams: Reflections on Professionalization of Child and Youth Care Workers in the U.S.

Abstract

More money must immediately get into the hands of child and youth care workers. After attending the Cream City Summit III on the work of the North American Certification Project (NACP) in Milwaukee in March, 2003, it is obvious that just about everything needed to professionalize child and youth care workers in North America, except increased professional monetary compensation, was delivered and is on the table. Child and youth care professionals also need to make a decent wage and living. These caregivers of troubled kids working across the land are not doing missionary work and seeking a stipend for their austere lifestyle. They live in a modern world and want to enjoy the just rewards of a hard day of work like everyone else. Like other service professionals (e.g., doctors, lawyers, teachers, policemen, correctional officers) who lead a productive and comfortable life style, so too should the dedicated child and youthworker. All child and youth care workers from agencies providing a treatment and care service are professionals, and they need to be licensed. The Association for Child & Youth Care has proposed a multi-layered system of licensing workers. I believe that the first, entry-level layer ought to be for para-professionals and that further layers might be considered professional. These workers ought to be adequately compensated. Once this last element of professionalization—just compensation for demanding work—is in the pipeline, a committed workforce can begin to take its place in the ‘‘world order’’ of the middleclass. A reliable living wage will mean that many of them will not be distracted by the realities and concerns of struggling to stay one step away from poverty. A big part of what child and youth care workers do is to develop