Jim Anglin

Associate Professor, School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria, B.C. Canada

It has been quite a busy start to a new year, but I am not complaining. Being at a university is a great privilege and pleasure; to teach such interesting and committed students; to research areas of personal passion and relevance to the child and youth care field; to consult with agencies, policy makers and government departments; and to work alongside wonderful colleagues - who could ask for anything more? (Why do I feel a song coming on?) Let me share a few of the highlights.

Last December, I completed a report for the Minister of Health and Social Services in the Yukon Territorial Government. The Yukon is a very large territory that sits above British Columbia at the top of Canada, and it is famous for the Yukon goldrush, the longest dogsled race in the world, and for its stunning mountainous beauty. (As a further aside, it is also known as "the land of the midnight sun". I arrived for my first consultation visit last June 21^st, on the longest day of the year when the sun dipped just below the horizon for about four hours, meaning there were 24 hours of daylight. Yes, it can make bedtimes in residential work quite challenging!) The entire population of the Yukon is 30,000 people, with 20,000 living in the capital city, Whitehorse. In mid- January, I received a printed copy of my report on their residential care system, and the government communications people had put a wonderful colourful cover on it, and produced a youth-friendly poster that could be put on the walls in the group homes. I fielded several phone calls from Yukon newspapers and did an early-morning radio interview. Now it is up to the government to implement the recommendations. It is challenging to spend six months talking with youth, foster parents, CYCWs, and many others, drafting recommendations, and then having no ability to put any of it into practice oneself!

January being the beginning a new academic term, I presented a class in our introductory undergraduate course on "Pioneers in International Child and Youth Care". I love doing this session, as very few CYCWs know that our history can be traced back over 200 years to the work of Heinrich Pestalozzi of Switzerland, sometimes called "the first child and youth care worker". In addition to Pestalozzi, I usually touch on the life and work of Anton Makarenko of Russia, Maria Montessori of Italy, Janusz Korczak and Stefania Wilczynska of Poland, and if time permits, end with the recent transformation process in South Africa! (Remember friends, "The struggle continues, victory is certain".)

I am only teaching several guest seminars and classes this term, as I am on a research term, meaning that I can devote most of my time to writing. I am in the final throes of a book tentatively titled: Staffed Group Homes for Children and Youth: A Framework for Practice, due to be published later this year. In order to develop the framework, I spent many hours over 14 months in 10 different residential programs in various regions of British Columbia. I used the grounded theory method which is well-suited to researching child and youth care practice, and now it is exciting to have all but the last two chapters drafted.

On another front, our provincial government has decided, yet again, to reorganise child and family services, and this month they announced large budget reductions while pledging to improve services by building community capacity and decentralising control to local authorities of some sort (yet to be decided). It is disheartening to see a 20% budget cut over the next three years. Due to further budget cuts in support payments to single parent families, many children, youth and their families will be struggling now more than ever. I wrote a piece for the Victoria newspaper just before Christmas, likening this government to Ebeneezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. But the Minister and staff in the Ministry for Children and Family Development are being forced to do their best to cope, and I have (somewhat ambivalently) agreed to serve on an advisory body to the "process of transformation". (Does that terminology ring any bells for my colleagues in South Africa?!)

I am also in the final stages of co-editing (with Emmanuel Grupper of Israel) a special issue of the Child and Youth Care Forum on the life and work of Meir Gottesmann, an Israeli pioneer in residential education and care. For twenty-six years, Meir was a FICE-Israel representative to the Federal Council of FICE, and for many years worked with Youth Aliyah, the Jewish Immigrant Youth Organisation. From 1978-1984, he served as Youth Aliyah's Director General. This journal issue will include a number of tributes to Meir, and articles written for this volume on topics pertinent to Meir's work. This has been an honour and a true labour of love for both Emmanuel and myself, who were both privileged to become good friends of Meir's.

Perhaps that is more than enough on my recent preoccupations. (I only did it because my friend Brian Gannon asked, and thought some of you might be interested.) Naturally, I left out all of the fascinating committee meetings that plague university departments these days!

I often think that there is only one thing worse than being too busy, and that is not being busy enough. I am truly blessed in my work, and believe that I must be one of the most fortunate child and youth care workers in the world. May you have every opportunity to use your talents, energy and passion to the full.