In this issue

Well, now, I'd like to tell you that this is one of those issues that bring tears of pride to an editor's eyes, but I guess that would be going a little too far. While all the issues of the Journal contain helpful, quality articles, every once in a while we manage to pull together an issue that speaks directly to the heart — of child and youth care, that is. This is one of those issues. The materials in this issue address the two central issues of our field: self and relationship.
We open this issue with a letter. In Making a Reflective Relationship-Based Decision: A Letter, Sydney Samakosky tells the story of being asked, by a young man in the care of his organization, to spend the day fishing. The story would be wonderful if only because the very idea of being asked to go fishing seems to us to be central to good youth care, but even more interesting is how Sydney shares his thinking with us about how to respond to the request.

Next, we welcome back to the Journal's pages an old friend and humoristic teacher, Karl Gompf. In his It's My Kind of Journal: A Love Relationship, Karl talks a little about what the Journal of Child and Youth Care has meant to him in terms of his own development and why he continues to be a loyal supporter. After all, he says, where else could you find a journal that lets authors say "pissed-off"? Ah well, to each his own, and Karl is clearly one of ours.

We also welcome back the warm "Doctor of Wonderland," Penny Parry. In Relationships: Thoughts on Their Origin and Their Power, Penny, to whom relationship is central to being, shares some of her personal experiences in relationship formation and development. Her presence, even in writing, allows you to enter into a relationship with her through the written word.

In Youth Who Attempt Suicide: Exploring Their Experience of Relationship, Carol Stuart offers us an infrequent look into the inner experiences and experiencing of some troubled young people. Through a narrative research approach she allows the youth's voices to be heard and in doing so, Carol demonstrates a skill that is essential to effective child and youth care practice: listening well.

Gerry Fewster is well-known to readers of this Journal. In Turning My Self Inside Out: My Theory of Me, Gerry is at his personal and philosophical best as he reveals to us the meaning of 'self' for him. It is a provocative and challenging read that demonstrates the kind of thoughtful process we need t, bring to our field.

Meg Lindsay is new to these pages. In a recent e-mail she said that she was glad to find a journal in the field that liked stories, and she sent us a few. Well, we are glad that she found us, and in the piece Mary, we think that you will see why. In a few short pages Meg demonstrates the potentially enduring power of the child and youth care relationship. Once again, we see the power of the relationship formed through daily life events.

Mark Krueger is also well-known to readers of the Journal of Child and Youth Care, and we are always happy to have him here. Over the past few years Mark has been researching the role of 'presence' in child and youth care relationships, in a particularly child and youth care way. In Presence as Dance in Work With Youth, Mark shares some of that research journey and his current thinking with us. As always, we are struck by his ability to speak clearly about profound things.      NEXT COLUMN >> 

Patti MacKenna is also new to these pages, and we welcome her input. In Self: It All Starts Here, Patti draws us into the developmental world of the self of some youth care workers. In entering that world with her we learn something about how child and youth care workers come to experience self — theirs and others — in their work. We are also pleased to offer this article because, like some of the others here, it demonstrates an approach to research that is well suited to this field: an approach that allows us to hear the voices of those who are the object of the inquiry.

Penny Parry pops up again at this point with a poem, Don't Swear. Creative education has always been a strength of hers.

In a short and direct article, You/Me/Us: Thoughts on Boundary Management in Child and Youth Care, Varda Mann-Feder addresses one of the most important questions in our work: where do I end and the other begin? Personal and inter-personal boundaries are not paid enough attention, we think, and thus we are pleased that Varda has raised the issue here.

Stimulated by a discussion on the relatively new e-mail discussion group, CYC-Net (www.cyc-net.org), Craig Shealy set out to explore the meaning of relationship to child and youth care professionals. In Ask a Simple Question, Get a Complex Answer: Why "The Relationship" in Child and Youth Care is Neither "Sentimental" nor "Bogus", Craig offers us some ideas about what child and youth care workers think about relationships. We think you might be surprised.

Relationships: What Is It We Do?... It Is What We Do! is the title of the next article by Varley Weisman, and it could well be the introductory comment to a discussion with someone who wonders what we mean when we say relationship is central to child and youth care practice. Varley discusses Some seemingly simple, but deeply meaningful characteristics of good youth care workers and insists that we need to deal with our own issues of "relationship reluctance" if we are to help troubled youth develop meaningful relationships with us.

Anyone who is aware of the role of activities in child and youth care practice knows Karen VanderVen. She is a campaigning advocate for the importance of activities in developing relationships of trust and success with young people. In You Are What You Do and Become What You've Done: The Role of Activity in Development of Self, Karen also introduces us to some of her thinking about the role of self in activities with youth. Activities are, she suggests, not only a place to do, but a place to be and develop, with self in relationship.

Meg Lindsay also reappears in Commentary with the story of developing the use of life story books to help people discover parts of their selves that may not be currently present in their lives. In Attempting to Find the "Whole Person", Meg teaches us all a little about this potentially powerful tool.

In our Journal Entries section, Associate Editor Leanne Rose Sladde brings us a uniquely personal perspective from Patricia LaPalme, and in our Book Review section, Steve Bentheim discusses Relatives Raising Children: An Overview of Kinship Care.