This piece was first posted on the Home Page at http://www.goodenoughcaring.com on February 4th, 2011.
Leanne Rose , reflecting in 1990 on her experience of working in a residential resource in Alberta, Canada where she was helping to provide care for Darren wrote,
“I soon learned the reality of the child welfare system, as well as how the system hinders the therapeutic nature of child and youth care. Darren did not receive the treatment that he needed; he had never been able to form a meaningful and lasting bond with someone, nor did he receive the unconditional love he yearned for. It was through Darren that I realized that my position as a child and youth care worker is dependant upon a bureaucratic system. I also came to understand that the therapeutic nature of child and youth care has to exist primarily in the here and now, and that somewhere the consistency of care for children, and our responsibility as a society to our youth, was lost in a politicized system.” *
We are sure child care workers from many different countries and cultures will identify with Leanne’s experience. Twenty years on it seems to us the disconnection illustrated by Leanne between what should be provided to nurture an individual child and what is provided by public child care systems still prevails. We hope that there are some places where this dichotomy no longer exists. If there are, it would be good to hear about them.
* This is a quotation from Leanne Rose's article "On being a Child and Youth Care Worker" We offer our acknowledgment to the Journal of Child and Youth Care where Leanne's article was first published (Volume 5 Number 1, 1990 p. 161-166) , and CYC-Online. Access the full article at http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0401-rose.html
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