Developing professional ethics for child and youth care work: Assuming responsibility for the quality of care

Understanding Burnout in Child and Youth Care Workers

“…Many of these children and youth are deemed to be ''at-risk'' to themselves or others and some engage in self-harming behaviours, act out sexually, and may become verbally or physically abusive towards peers and workers (Ryan et al 2008;Savicki 2002). Considering the difficulty of the clientele, it is important that workers possess the needed skills, commitment, and knowledge to work with this vulnerable population of young people who are dependent on the capability of staff members (Mattingly 1995). Child and youth care workers are responsible for a plethora of duties including the formation of relationships with children and youth, providing instruction in daily living, offering individual and group counselling both in formal and informal settings, disciplining, teaching, providing transportation to and from appointments, contacting social workers as well as other services and agencies, working with parents and families, and striving to provide a stable and predicable living environment for a diverse group of children and youth (Krueger 2007;Krueger 1991).…”

Knowing, Doing and Being in Context: A Praxis-oriented Approach to Child and Youth Care

“…First however, I need to situate this particular contribution within a rich theoretical and practice tradition that has been actively shaped by the contributions of many gifted CYC educators, practitioners and scholars 1 (Anglin 1992;Beker 2001;Denholm 1990;Fewster 1990;Garfat 2003;Krueger 2004;Maier 2001;Mattingly 1995;Nakkula and Ravitch 1998;Pence 1987;Ricks 1989;VanderVen 1991). Their diverse contributions have laid the groundwork for the emergence of a distinct, multi-vocal community of practice which, to take but one contemporary example, is regularly made visible through the lively, diverse and thoughtful discussions currently underway on the CYC-Net (http://www.cyc-net.org/network.html).…”

“…As early as 1982, following the Conference-Research Sequence in Child Care Education, a series of principles and guidelines were developed to guide those involved in the planning and delivery of child and youth care education (Peters and Kelly 1982). Later, a Code of Ethics was developed to signify the field's status as a formal profession (Mattingly 1995). Several authors have tried to define the essence of CYC work (Anglin 1992;Ferguson and Anglin 1985;VanderVen 1991), which has occasionally included attempts to distinguish the CYC profession from other related fields of practice like social work (Anglin 1999;Bates 2005) or counseling (Phelan 2005).…”

Essential Moral Sources of Ethical Standards in Child and Youth Care Work

“…Toward this end, Mattingly (1995) introduces some projects that are developing the second component of moral inquiry, normative ethical standards. One of the vital steps in doing so, as she points out, is "Developing an ethical vision: guiding practitioners to the recognition that there is, in fact, an ethical universe and more specifically a professional ethical viewpoint that is distinct from personal beliefs, law, and regulation" (p. 389).…”

“…In our case, the others are clients, other staff, the rules and organizational values that Garfat and Ricks refer to, and it is also a conversation with the tradition of ethical decision making within the child and youth care field. Mattingly (1995) points out that this conversation is impoverished. That impoverishment may lead one to believe that the ethical decision making experience is lonely.…”