Name:       Frances Ricks
Age:          Soon to be 70! (April 28, 1940)
Location:  Victoria, B.C.

Biography
I came to Toronto in 1969 with my husband (Jim) who had taken a job at Thistletown Regional Centre and I enrolled in a Ph.D. psychology program at York University. When I graduated I worked at the Dellcrest Children’s Centre where I was the Director of research and training. I first became involved with Child Care when I was hired to teach Child Care Workers at George Brown College and became involved with the Ontario Mental Health Centres. After working at Dellcrest for six years we moved to Victoria with our two young children, Amanda and James. Jim was the Director of Integrated Services and I was working part time teaching in the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria. The government decided to empty treatment centres and redeploy child care workers to work with families. I was hired part time to retrain Child Care workers to be family workers at what was then Malispina Community College in Nanaimo. While maintaining my part time jobs, I was asked to be the Director of the School of Child Care as the previous director had returned to Toronto. I agreed to be acting director, and taught research and family work hoping to be hired full time to do program evaluation in the Ministry of Children and Family Development (then called Human Resources).

Our growing staff and I spent my second year in Victoria convincing the University that Child Care was not social work and kept the program from being moved to social work. We also doubled our number of students, rethought the curriculum, and hired three new teaching faculty (one to be the new director) because I was sure that I would move to government and renew a career in program evaluation. After an agonizing summer it became apparent that my hopes would be dashed and I returned to the University to work full time. I spent the next 25 years in the School of Child and Youth Care updating curriculum, teaching and contributing to the development of a masters degree and Ph.D. programs (many of which were by special arrangement or interdisciplinary studies), and traveling the world delivering workshops and seminars.

The 25 years in Child and Youth Care were not planned, but were certainly a happy accident. Through those years I worked with many wonderful people in communities on issues of abuse, family systems, case management, program evaluation, self-awareness and community development. There were opportunities to research and write on topics close to my heart: mentoring, moral courage, ethics, First Nations education, and curriculum development for Child and Youth Care.
Through negotiated arrangements between the University of Victoria and the Awasis Agency of Northern Manitoba I coordinated a master’s program and two year child care diploma which resulted in 16 master degree graduates and 88 graduated certificate students. Those years in the North changed my life and pressed me to rethink the value of education, the purpose of education, the nature of health and wellness, consciousness of conscience, and what it takes to do the right thing when you know the right thing to do!

My final years at the University were spent as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and I retired in 2005.

Since my retirement I co-edited a book for Child and Youth Care practitioners (my 7th book), completed a training program on Discovery Goal Based Planning for CLBC (the corporation that serves people with disabilities) which involved the writing of two training manuals, four training videos, a corporate video, and a week training 24 trainers for CLBC. There is a new project on the horizon with CLBC. All new learning opportunities occur between trips abroad, trips to visit my Dad who is almost 99, visits to our son who is a Shakespearian actor and artistic director in Richmond Virginia or to be with Jared (13) and Annika (8), who are our wonderful grandchildren, and their parents, Amanda (drama therapist) and Rich (owner of Medex, a fitness centre for people over fifty) who live in Victoria.

How I came to be in this field
Just before moving to Victoria Dr. Chris Webster called me in Toronto and asked me to take his job as director of the Child Care Program as he was returning to Toronto. I declined saying that I wanted to get a government job in program evaluation. The rest you know from the bio!

My favourite sayings
Many sayings have stayed with me over the years:

From my Grandmother Souvenir, “Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.”

From the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, “It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with
punishment the scroll; I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”

From my own awareness, “You can’t change what you don’t know.”

“Many are the ways.”

A few thoughts about child and youth care

• If you cannot reflect on yourself and determine what part you have played in the current mess, you should not be in Child and Youth Care, nor should you be teaching it. We are always in messes because we are connected to everything! So, get busy because  there is lots to do.

• Child and Youth Care is not for the faint of heart.

• Be magnanimous, compassionate, and morally courageous….the children and their families require nothing less.

Last thing I read, watched, heard, which I would recommend to others
I read all the time….probably a book and numerous articles a week. I also am an avid reader of the newspaper and watch the news to keep up with some of the messes in the world.

Favourite child and youth care experience
There are numerous favorite experiences in CYC that involved students, especially graduate students. Over the years my graduate students (about 80 of them) have led me down different paths of discovery, learning and sharing of their personal journeys. Thanks to all of you. You have been a significant part of my personal growth and development. You have been the impetus for a significant part of my writing.

A few thoughts for those starting out

• There is much to learn and unlearn: read, ask questions, and know that you don’t know. You don’t need to know everything; you need to be open to learning.

• Do your best and learn from your mistakes.

• You cannot control anything….however, you can influence everything.

A writing of my own
Standing on the Precipice* (Edited by G. Bellefeuille and Frances Ricks). Read the last chapter by Marie Hoskins and Frances Ricks on Dealing With Differences.

Influences on my work
My very smart husband, Jim, and my equally smart children, Amanda and James. Working with the Awasis Agency of Northern Manitoba for over 15 years. My wonderful and not so wonderful students who have been my teachers. The ethics project with the Federation of Child Care. All my co-authors who traveled with me down new pathways of discovery and recovery.

Anything else
Don’t hang out with people who bring you down. What I am learning from retirement is that we can choose our ‘playmates’…..choose carefully. Hang out with others who feed your soul.

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* Standing on the precipice: Inquiry into the creative potential of child and youth care practice edited by Gerard L. Bellefeuille and Frances Ricks can be purchased HERE