November 2007

Editorial : The Official Child and Youth Care Work is a "Fledgling Profession!"

By Merle Allsopp

2007 closes on an equivocal note for the child and youth care field.

So many good things have happened this year - the Children’s Bill has finally been accepted; child and youth care workers are recognized in the Bill as important roleplayers in the implementation of the Act; the regulations to the Act have been consulted on; the Association’s largest conference was held; the first custom-designed community-based child and youth care agency was launched; the Isibindi Model scored another victory; and community-based child and youth care work is generally becoming ever more acknowledged as serving children well.

There have been some rather dark occurrences - a secure care facility was once more in the news for abysmal treatment of children; another child committed suicide in a place of safety; subsidies to child and youth care centers have not been increased in some of the provinces; and still too often we hear of incidents of unethical practice by colleagues in the field.

But all these matters are clear. We know which are good, and we know which are bad. The outcome of the research into the demarcation of social services however, is something the field ought to consider very carefully before we jump to any conclusion.

This research process met with some concern in the field to start off with - many people struggled to understand why the research was commissioned by the SACSSP in the first instance. Some child and youth care workers were concerned about the representivity of the research itself, and others expressed that they felt in this process that they were put in a position to justify the existence of the profession - once again.

It has taken some time, but SACSSP has finally released the research report. And in it child and youth care work is pronounced a “fledgling profession”. In the first instance we must celebrate the fact that we have been acknowledged as a profession. I suggest that each and every person who inputted into the research - some having done so under very difficult conditions - should pat themselves on the back for speaking up and articulating what we do. For without our having done so child and youth care work would not have been understood and acknowledged as a profession at all.

But then comes the qualifier - fledgling. What does this mean, and when used to describe a profession, what does it do to that word profession? The word fledgling describes something inexperienced and immature. So it gives the impression of our profession as just starting to fly, able to function in a semi-independent state, but not being at its full state of maturity. Think of the word as it applies to birds - we have all seen young birds flapping precariously on the edge of nests, uncertain and vulnerable.

What worries me about the image conjured by this word is what the role of a fully fledged profession is in relation to a fledgling profession? Social work is considered in this research to be a fully fledged profession. Great. But what is the relationship between social work and child and youth care work - not at the level of service delivery, where most competent workers from both disciplines complement one another and work respectfully and complementarily towards ‘client’ goals. (Although much has been made of some apparent confusion at ground level where social workers and child and youth care workers don’t know  what each other are doing, and where apparently some poor people are inundated by social service professionals knocking at their doors trying to help them!) I must say that this is not what I pick up from communities or colleagues. We can only dream of the time when we have so many social service professionals out there servicing communities in need, that they are falling over one another to get to help people! There are certainly instances of social service workers not getting along with each other, but this should not to my mind be elevated to the realm of real, intrinsic role confusion.

In relation to the matter of child and youth care work being a “fledgling profession”, the question rather arises as to the role of a fully fledged profession in the regulation process of the fledgling. And this is where we close the year on an equivocal note.

Does this mean that social work should oversee the regulation of child and youth care work?

We have always seen ourselves as a profession distinct from social work, and in fact do not see our genesis in social work - a point much disputed it seems, by some quarters within social work that seem to think we were born of their rib. Interestingly, most of the points at which we overlap in our knowledge base with social work link to knowledge emanating from disciplines other than social work! So we use and apply knowledge from the disciplines of psychology and sociology and so forth - which is not ‘owned’ by social work, as it is not ‘owned’ by child and youth care work. That which is common between child and youth care work and social work in other work is not social work. This matter is by no means resolved however, as the Standards Generating Body for Child and Youth Care Work awaits the approval of Council of the professional degree for child and youth care work submitted to SAQA early in 2007.

Clearly we see ourselves as a profession in our own right, but if we are pronounced fledgling in this research does this mean that we require the oversight of the fully-fledged? And what does this mean about our long-awaited regulation process?

The picture of a fluffy creature teetering on the edge of a nest does not, in my opinion, fit the image that child and youth care work has of itself. The field is cohesive, responsive, and committed to children and families. We have proven that we can mobilize people, and our fight to get to the point where we are has left us strong and determined. No giddy creature are we, needing protection and discipline from the outside. But we certainly are fledgling inasmuch as we are in a stage of development - and cannot as yet say we have reached our peak! If this is what is meant by fledgling, I think we can live with it.

But why so much, one may ask, about one word? What does it matter?

We must remember that we are a field which, to date, is not yet regulated.

The way we are perceived can determine the way in which we become regulated. If we are seen to be a fledgling of social work, it makes sense to place us under the control and guidance of the social work field. It also makes sense that we cannot be afforded the same rank and status as those who are mature. And so this description could impact on the manner in which the SACSSP chooses to regulate the field of child and youth care work. And this is where the appellation takes us into the equivocal. On the one hand we are called a profession, but if we are still growing (and thank heavens we are) it could mean that we are not to be taken as seriously as those who are not still growing, and are already fully mature.

So as we move into 2008 it is appropriate that the field of child and youth care considers this issue carefully - and positions itself to respond to any developments that may happen in the year ahead. One of the things that the research on the demarcation of social services has said of us is that we are “highly motivated and enthusiastic”.

The year ahead may see us needing to employ some of this enthusiasm and energy in showing that whilst we may still be strengthening some of our muscles, child and youth care is more than ready to fly! Clipping our wings will not hold us back, and we will stand together to be sure that the process of regulating the field serves - ultimately - the best interests of the children and families whom we serve. This will require a recognition of the profession to regulate itself - and to grow into maturity in a supportive environment.

Let us look forward to 2008 and the continued struggle for recognition of this profession - with consideration, caution and motivation.