The Child and Youth Care Association of Alberta

“An organization of child care professionals who have common interests, concerns and objectives in providing quality services to children and youth.”

The Child and Youth Care Association of Alberta has a rich and colorful history, characterized by progressive movement towards certification and the professionalization of Child and Youth Care. Past members and advocates of the CYCAA are today considered the mentors and "grandfathers" of the field. The story of their groundbreaking work for the development of the Association provides a picture of dedication and continuing commitment to child care.

April 5th, 1970 saw the then titled Child Care Workers Association of Alberta hold its first meeting: five people from Dominic Savio and Hull Home in Calgary were in attendance. A month later there was a "get to know each other" social of 31 people at the Don Bosco House cabin which was followed on May 19th, 1971 by an organizational meeting and the first Executive was selected.

Over the next ten years, the CCWAA continued to expand, develop, and fulfill their goals. By 1980, the membership had grown to 260 members with a broad Albertan representation from areas such as Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, High Prairie, and Lac La Biche.

Over the next 15 years, the CCWAA (now CYCAA) promoted, expanded, and established the early goals of standardization, certification, and professionalization of child care.
The Child Care Certification program is reputedly the most advanced of its kind in North America and this highly developed program is worthy of a history all to itself. In the mid-1970's, some 700 Child and Youth Care Workers were providing care to emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children in Alberta. Educational facilities were able to provide only a fraction of the trained workers required to fill these positions. As a result, the Department of Social Services and Community Health (now Alberta Family and Social Services) struck a curriculum committee to identify competencies. This process took almost two years to develop and in July 1979, the first Child Care Worker was certified in Alberta.

Over time, interest grew in the private sector and in 1983 the Alberta Association of Child Care Centers (now Alberta Association of Services for Children and Families) made a proposal to the Department, requesting that the management of the program be turned over to the representation of the CYCAA and that certification be made available to all Child Care Workers in Alberta.

A Tripartite Agreement was signed in 1985 which allowed access for all Child Care Workers to the certification process under the management of the steering committee. The first Child Care Worker from the private sector was certified in October of 1985, and apparently became the first Supervisor to go through the process. In 1990, agreement was reached to move management of the program to the CYCAA through an arms-length board.

Objectives of the Association

• To promote, improve, and maintain progressive standards of Child and Youth Care Services and to encourage an active public interest in the enlightened provision of Child and Youth Care.

• To provide a democratic organization which will unite all persons involved in providing professional Child and Youth Care, and capable of providing a forum of their ideas and concerns, and of the encouragement of familiarization with current agency philosophies and treatment in practice, primarily in Alberta, and in the rest of the world as well.

• To promote the development of Child and Youth Care as a profession in Alberta by providing guidelines regarding conduct and performance via the Code of Ethics and by supporting the Alberta Association of Services for Children and Families' Standards of Child Care.

• To act an an educational forum for the exchange of ideas and information, and to encourage specialized and uniform training programs of the highest professional standards.

• To form liaisons with other Child and Youth Care Associations having similar objectives and interests for the purpose of support, information gathering and exchange.

• To promote and oversee the Certification of Child and Youth Care Workers.

Visit their web site at  http://www.cycaa.com/

This feature: Based, with permission, on information on the CYCAA website.
CYC-ONLINE would appreciate information, stories and pictures on similar associations around the world as a means of sharing the work of child and youth care workers.