Ah ... if only ...

There was an international immunology conference in town recently. Now I don’t know much about immunology but there were between 7,000 and 8,000 people in attendance – from all over the world. And so it got me thinking.

We have “international conferences” in Child and Youth Care here in North America but they are, as Leon Fulcher once implied, really North American conferences with a few international visitors, a sentiment with which I fully agree. When one goes to these conferences, the majority of people are Canadians or people from the USA (I never know quite what to call them after all, all of us here are “Americans"). Mixed in with the group tend to be a few people from other countries – mostly presenters – but the “cultural mix” is definitely Canada-USA.

But at this immunology conference there were “delegates” not just a few presenters from numerous countries. People of different cultures came together for a common purpose, to learn from each other in a very international event.

Well, it got me to thinking what a real international conference in Child and Youth Care might be like – and I couldn’t help but get excited about the idea of such an event. Imagine, if you can, front line practitioners from a multitude of countries, coming together to share ideas about practice. Just as these “front line researchers” came together to share developments, new knowledge and questions.

Ah, what a dream that is.

So, maybe someone would like to take up the challenge of hosting a genuinely international conference in Child and Youth Care where practitioners from a variety of countries came together – with researchers, academics and the like – to share developments, new ideas, and questions. What a dream.

So, anybody up for the challenge – it’s a ten year project I hear. But imagine the result ... !

Thom