Youth Care Workers Research Articles

Perspectives on ethics in child and youth care

The request for an undergraduate course in ethics was the context for a research study in both the teaching and researching of ethics in the field of child and youth care. An action research approach allowed class participants to reflect on and give meaning to ethical dilemmas in child and youth care practice. Students concluded that child and youth care workers are often ill-prepared to deal with ethical dilemmas and described awareness and fear as playing major roles in ethical practice.

“Family Culture Ethnography” as an Instrument for Cultural Sensitization of Child and Youth Care Workers

“Family Culture Ethnography” as an Instrument for Cultural Sensitization of Child and Youth Care Workers

Ethnographic Description as a Vehicle for Child and Youth Care Worker Education

Ethnographic Description as a Vehicle for Child and Youth Care Worker Education

An Anthropological Model for Child and Youth Care Worker Education and Practice

An Anthropological Model for Child and Youth Care Worker Education and Practice

The Convergence of the Israeli and the European Experience

One argument against importing practices from group care programs in other countries is that they are effective and meaningful only in the context of a specific culture and thus have little value for U.S. programs. It is argued here that many Israeli and European practices in such settings are functionally similar to each other, in their emphases on development, community, and identity, and different from the focus on deviant behavior that characterizes many U.S. programs. The key issue is not cultural differences, however, but what is good for children and youth. What could be learned from Israel and Europe is the importance of a professional definition of child and youth care work that takes moral and social values about children seriously in structuring group care programs.

Self-driven ethical decision-making: A model for child and youth care

Child and youth care practitioners want to take right action and want to be effective in their work. They often question whether these two aspects of decision-making in practice are related. As the field of ethics is changing, it seems timely to focus not only on the development of codes of ethics and standards of practice but on the context and process of ethical decision-making. This paper provides a process model for ethical decision-making in which self is central. Through the use of this model, child and youth care workers will be better positioned to make their decisions in perplexing decision-making situations.

Essential moral sources of ethical standards in child and youth care work

It is proposed that an ethical framework for child and youth care practice should take into account the differences between descriptive ethical inquiry on the one hand and normative and analytical ethical inquiry on the other. This will help us avoid the error of deriving our ethical principles from our practices, when in fact what we need is a moral criterion originating outside our practice that is not based on efficiency. Mattingly (1995) suggests this in recommending that we “Develop an ethical vision.” This ethical vision should take into account the domains of morality proposed by Taylor (1989), including respect for human life, issues of what makes a rich, meaningful life, and ideas about dignity. Doing so may provide a moral foundation not just for a code of ethics, but a moral framework for evaluating the entire range of our practice with children and youth.

Developing professional ethics for child and youth care work: Assuming responsibility for the quality of care

Child and youth care in North America is actively engaged in a process of “doing ethics.” This paper presents the context for this current ethics work, gives a brief history of ethics in the culture as it impacts on helping professions, and describes the function of professional ethics. The ethics work of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the Child Life Council (CLC), and organized child and youth care in North America are detailed. The plan of action includes the process that has led to the completed draft of the Code of Ethics of North American Child and Youth Care Professionals, an outline for a process of “doing ethics,” and the formulation of research questions to enhance the understanding of ethics in practice.

Professional ethics in child youth care work: An update and some new perspectives

Professional ethics in child youth care work: An update and some new perspectives

From Boys Town to Oliver Twist. Separating fact from fiction in welfare reform and out-of-home placement of children and youth.

Recent debate following the suggestion to place children of "welfare mothers" in "orphanages" illustrates the need to evaluate the relative goodness of residential care and to examine many of the basic assumptions underlying current welfare reform proposals. Nearly half a million children and youth are currently in government-funded out-of-home care in the United States. As custodians of this challenging population, child and youth care workers are neither parents nor therapists, but appear to perform both of these roles as "therapeutic parents." Two comprehensive and mature literatures--common factors of therapist efficacy and parental correlates of offspring psychopathology--provide theoretical and empirical support for this model of child and youth care. Current welfare reform proposals are evaluated in the context of the therapeutic parent model; assumptions about welfare mothers are also examined.

Potentiating “Therapeutic” child and youth care with the Sage Hill Behavior Rating System and its on-line interactive data entry and graphing management information system

The paper describes the history, development, and rationale of the Sage Hill Behavior Rating System (SHBRS) and explores its relevance and usefulness for “therapeutic” child and youth care work. The details of the scale construction and the scales themselves are presented. Finally, its efficiency and effectiveness as an on-line management information system with many clinical, administrative, and research uses are examined.

Clarification of child and youth care identity through an analysis of work environment and burnout

Recent years have seen the child and youth care field extend its range beyond day and residential treatment settings. These extensions have challenged traditional aspects of child and youth care worker identity. The analysis of work environment and its relationship to burnout in child and youth care workers, as compared to other social service providers, highlights the unique aspects of the field that emerge from its milieu origins in which workers engaged children and youth continuously within their life space. Milieu-based workers perceive a different work environment and respond differently to aspects of burnout. Over the years, child and youth care workers have developed their skill base and their philosophical orientation in response to the demands of milieu. As the field moves into other practice arenas, it must not lose a sense of its origins. It must strive to transport milieu oriented practices to non-milieu situations.

Enhancing screening for child and youth care work with problem-specific measures: An example with big brothers/big sisters volunteers

Big BrothersJBig Sisters (BBIBS) organizations attempt to identify positive role models for youth. Agencies utilize lengthy personality inventories to screen their applicants. However, these measures lack specific scales to assess many detrimental volunteer characteristics (pedophilia and child abuse potential, drug and alcohol problems, interpersonal shortcomings, and emotional instabilities). Several brief, problem-specific scales designed to assess these qualities could effectively supplement BBBS screening programs.

Generative curriculum: A model of university and First Nations co-operative post-secondary education

The Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) and the University of Victoria's School of Child and Youth Care (SCYC) are working co-operatively to develop a culturally appropriate, post-secondary education training program for Cree and Dene child and youth care workers. The approach under development is termed the generative curriculum model. An initial step in the development of this innovative model involved joint MLTC, SCYC and advisor team meetings to identify foundation elements and principles that would guide the project over its 3 year funding period. Six of the seven elements are described briefly in the article, while the operationalization of the seventh element, the generative curriculum model, is discussed in greater detail. Utilizing the model, students are learning Meadow Lake First Nations (MLFN) Cree and Dene caregiving traditions, values and practices as well as those of the majority culture. The generative approach integrates text-based material with information from students, elders, and other community members resulting, over time, in courses tailored to the First Nations of Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. The project is in its mid-term development stage and the information provided is primarily descriptive of the model. As the project evolves, insights gathered through formative evaluation are leading to the further refinement and elaboration of the model.

Implications of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory for child and youth care practice

Introducing a special issue on Vygotskian approaches in child and youth care work and early childhood education, the author provides an overview of Vygotsky's theory and a brief description of each of the more specific articles that follow in the special issue.

Developing a model for cross-cultural education in child and youth care

The nine Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) communities in Saskatchewan. Canada, and the University of Victoria's School of Child and Youth Care (SCYC) are working in partnership to create a culturally appropriate training program for Cree and Dene child and youth care workers. This model of cross-cultural child and youth care education is based upon a unique philosophy that encompasses seven basic principles. In this paper, the authors discuss each of these philosophical principles in terms of the MLTC/SCYC joint project. They conclude with a brief statement of the broader cross-cultural implications of the project's philosophy on child and youth care education and practice.

Computer-assisted clinical training in child and youth care work

Computers are examined as a tool for child and youth care training and education. Needs within the field demand a higher level of training over a broader array of knowledge and skills and at a speedier pace. A brief history of computer applications to training and education precedes a discussion of the niche for computer-assisted clinical training within the child and youth care field. Discussion and examples highlight conditions for “well constructed” computer training that take advantage of interactivity and multisensory aspects now available. Conclusions indicate that computer-assisted training is poised to meet child and youth care training needs both by virtue of the availability of hardware and software and because of demands from the field.

?Fostering Moratorium? in residential child and youth care education

This paper highlights the professional socialization process of child and youth care workers from a new point of view, namely, focusing on the existential needs of beginning practitioners for a period of moratorium. The data gathered during an ethnographic study of newly recruited group workers in Israeli residential institutions led the authors to the conceptualization of a new model, the “Fostering Moratorium.”

The role of the socialpedagogue: An outline of a European model

The socialpedagogue profession, with which many European child and youth care workers identify, includes work with people of all ages. The identity and functions of the field are described, together with the role and scope of basic and continuing education and the relevant implications of the broader movement toward European unity.

AS*IF: A model for thinking about child and youth care interventions

As the knowledge base in the child and youth care work field has grown, front-line workers are increasingly able to govern their professional behavior by establishing standards rather than depending solely onad hoc, intuitive responses. This article proposes and describes the process of intervention, offering an integrated, five-stage model (Assessment, Selection, Pause, Intervention, and Follow-up), with appropriate sub-activities specified for each. It is noted that the model is not linear but encompasses continuous cyclic interaction among the five stages.