home   journals  Relational Child & Youth Care Practice

ISSN 0840-982X

VOLUME 20 NUMBER 1

• Table of contents
• Editorial: Values, habits and relationships. Carol Stuart

Editorial 4
Values, Habits and Relationships
Carol Stuart

Using the “Professional Package” to help supervisors 5
enhance cultural sensitivity when confronting
Frank Delano and Jill C. Shah

The topic of confrontation can bring uncomfortable feelings and many times is avoided by supervisors. This can allow less than acceptable practice to be validated and continue. That reluctance to confront is often compounded when the behavior to be confronted has culturally sensitive dynamics. This paper will offer a definition of confrontation the authors have developed that will present a more positive view of confrontation and encourage supervisors to see confrontation as a dynamic vehicle for growth. The paper outlines strategies to develop what the authors call a “professional package” for a confrontation that will minimize the potential damage to self esteem and increase the possibility for cultural sensitivity. By focusing the confrontation on addressing a generally accepted professional standard that is not being met, or an attempt to better understand the intent behind the behavior, a forum is created for a rich supervisory process. The paper closes with a seven step model for a professionally packaged confrontation.

Sugar and spice and all things not-so-nice: 12
Aggression within early adolescent female friendships
Jennifer Clarke and Susan Lollis

Who’s On First? 25
Carol Matthews

Ethics is hot ... so what 27
Mark Greenwald

In their desire to make ethics more real and practical, two workers discuss their desire to develop and use a virtue ethics model. Through this discussion, they explore a shift of focus from a situational “What do I do when...?” to a “What do I do now?” point of view.

They’re out of control 34
Thom Garfat

Enough is enough: Building community capacity 37
to transform child protection
Ken Barter

This article sounds the call that enough is enough. A plethora of research, experiences, child death inquiry reports, and information from parents and social workers alike all prove that current child protection systems are fundamentally flawed. No longer should it be acceptable to engage in reactive, knee-jerk reactions driven by social moral panic to come between families who require or need protective intervention services and programs. Such reactions usually stem from a crisis like the death of a child known to or in the care of child protection authorities. One should not believe it possible or responsible to assume that one intervention strategy can appropriately respond to the complex and chronic needs of children and families. To engage in the on-going pendulum swing between child rescue on the one end and family preservation on the other is simply not sufficient (Lindsay, 2004; Lindsay & Henly, 1997). Research and experiences both indicate the two paradigms do not produce desirable outcomes nor do they make a significant difference in the lives of vulnerable children and families (Trocme´, 1999).
Community capacity building moves outside of this pendulum swing. This approach intends to be responsive and comprehensive, not only with respect to protective interventions with children and families, but also the many complex issues associated with child protection. Additionally, based on researched conducted in a high-need neighbourhood, it is an approach worthy of consideration.

The Goalie 45
Liz Laidlaw

The Role of Competence in Outcomes for Children and Youth: 47
An Approach for Mental Health
Carol Stuart, William Carty, and Mackenzie Dean

Child and youth care practitioners provide direct care services to children, youth and families using a variety of mental health settings. This research examined the standard of pre-service training that Child and Youth Workers in Ontario receive within the college and university educational system to determine how entry-level practitioners are prepared and what type of emphasis there is on evidence-based practice.

Child and youth care in profile 57
Garth Goodwin

Tense moments with toddlers 59
Brian Gannon

Using an ecological lens to review and understand risk 60
and protective factors for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
questioning (LGBTQ) youth
Bill Walters

This paper provides insight into the experiences of a marginalized and oftentimes oppressed group of youth. Based upon a review of qualitative and quantitative literature, the paper presents both risk and protective factors for youth who self-identify, or are suspected to be, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Questioning their sexual orientation (LGBTQ). This paper is structured to amplify the oftentimes negative experiences of LGBTQ youth and to explore the potential adverse impacts at various societal and interpersonal levels. Further, the paper presents protective factors which can serve to moderate the negative experiences of LGBTQ youth and provides a review of techniques and initiatives that have been used to support LGBTQ youth.

Books: Attachment Disorder 71
Jack Phelan

The Little Hand That Gave 72
Katie Sakki

Values, habits and relationships

Most of this issue is composed of papers that were presented, as workshops, or as research papers at the International Child and Youth Care conference in Montreal (October, 2006). I am very pleased that Relational Child and Youth Care Practice was one of the two journals chosen to publish these papers. The Journal of Child and Youth Care Work, published by the Association of Child and Youth Care Practice will publish the remainder of the papers. We divided the papers according to those we thought might be appropriate for our editorial missions. RCYCP is very interested in relationships and in papers that have some very direct application to practice. As a result I think we have an interesting issue, with a relational practice focus and, quite by coincidence, all but one of the articles is Canadian.

Putting this issue together has highlighted for me the values and habits of our field. “The professional package”, a model to help supervisors with confronting behaviour, acknowledges that conflict is difficult AND that we value and appreciate individual differences including cultural differences inherent in approaching families and/or youth. In today’s world our habit is to be cautious not to offend someone whose cultural or ethnic background is different. It is possible though that the behaviour to be confronted has nothing to do with cultural difference, perhaps it is more to do with self and personal history; that which is embedded in our culture(s) and simply requires exploration. It’s about getting to know each other-and our “selfs”, this relationship orientation is a core habit of our field.

Jennifer Clarke and Susan Lollis challenge the (new) assumption that violence and scape-goating between girls is something that occurs as one group “picks on” weaker individuals or a weaker group whom they reject as part of their own friendship circle. Their research demonstrates that most peer to peer verbal and physical violence actually occurs between girls who consider themselves to be part of the same peer group. On one level this is not surprising, given that within families it is a habit that we fight, are cruel, and then kiss and make up, rarely do we end up never speaking to a sibling or parent again. Relationships in families are formed through conflict, over time and often through intense disagreements. It is not surprising then that groups of girlfriends might undertake the same process. Their research has implications for how we can work with girl groups experiencing that kind of conflict.

Mark Greenwald, in “Ethics is Hot”, offers a conversation between two workers about virtues. Virtues are being taught in some school districts now in an attempt to develop good habits among children, so it is only natural that we might think about how virtues relate to our values and therefore to the ethics that we implement in our day to day practice. The conversation will challenge you to think about your own “virtues” and perhaps how you “professionally package” those virtues in the work that you do.

Community capacity building is not a new concept, yet we are reminded by Ken Barter that in the context of capacity building, community members are parents and parents are responsible for child protection, not the local child welfare authority. He does not imply that the government should not be responsible for child protection or child welfare. Rather he reminds us that they are not solely responsible and that there is research evidence which tells us that, given the avenues for participation, and the sense that participation is VALUED, there are strengths within supposed high risk communities. Communities that are poverty stricken and isolated can come together successfully to offer more than we assume to their children. Not only can they—they should be encouraged to do so as part of “child protection”. This approach demands relationships—a habit that many child protections workers are not able to sustain, even though they value them.

The last of the conference papers, co-authoured by myself, with Bill Carty and Mackenzie Dean is a summary of a much larger report on child and youth care curriculum in Ontario. This paper replaces my usual column—but indeed represents the same passion that I have about identifying, describing and professionalizing what we do. We were challenged to describe the key findings in such a short piece but I hope that in reading it you will feel some of the same excitement that we experienced as we talked with mental health supervisors and college educators about evidence-based practice. We were please to find that in many cases child and youth care practitioners were not just working for the multi-disciplinary team (as might have happened in the past) but were a valued part of it.

The final paper in this issue is what might be called a “traditional literature review”. Perhaps not the first place you will turn, though the topic is an important one. I encourage you to look at it and read it through. Bill Walters has captured much of the existing “evidence” about the types of programs that will mitigate risk for LGBTQ youth in relation to mental health concerns and physical health concerns, as well as those that will simply “protect and support”. Rather than making recommendations based on what others say are the problems, he describes for us what programs have already been implemented successfully. This is the evidence of what works and we need to make a habit of paying attention to implementing it.

Our RCYCP columnists are probably my favourite part of editing an issue. Each brings their own unique approach to the writing and their own message. They are often united in their focus on stories about children and about relationships with children; theirs, yours, and ours. I recognize in a parent’s worry about the injury her child might sustain while “in goal” something which we as professionals don’t necessary feel; that personal connection to the risks that children take in the development of recreational and social skills that are necessary for today’s world. I’ve felt this worry about my own children-but never about those that I work with. We see Charlotte a little more grown up with her “snow dogs”, and Thom recognizes that he’s out of control. Garth challenges us to think about the idea of profile—marketing what we do. It seems inconsistent with our preference for low profile. Brian (BG) gives us the grandfather’s view of a relationship with your grandchild. The idea of virtues returns in “from the line” as a young child, in a shelter, donates her prize back to buy something for another.

We have many routines in our daily personal and professional lives. They represent our habits, the things that are important enough to us to repeat on a regular basis. I hope that reading RCYCP cover to cover is one of your habits and that you enjoy this issue-there is much good evidence here that can be implemented directly in your work.

Carol Stuart