Re-imagining child and youth care practice with African Canadian youth

Abstract

This article is based on a plenary held during the Child & Youth Care in Action VI Conference: Moving Through Trails and Trials Toward Community Wellness, held in Victoria, British Columbia in April 2019. It explores how we can re-imagine child and youth care practice with African Canadian youth. This emerging paradigm aligns with child and youth care politicized praxis as well as trauma-informed and strengths-based approaches in the field’s literature. We highlight the importance of mobilizing critical and transformative theoretical frameworks along with an Africentric worldview to substantially support youth of African descent with a strengths-based approach. Moreover, the protective role of Black-affirming spaces is developed and articulated. Keywords: child and youth care (CYC), youth work, Black-affirming space, African Canadian, youth