WRITE -UP OR WRITE OFF....CHILD AND YOUTH CARE IN SOUTH AFRICA

doctorate in Social


At the Western Cape mini conference on the 2nd October 2018, Dr Shernaaz Carelse of the University of the Western Cape stressed the need for child and youth care workers to WRITE. Dr Carelse is well positioned to encourage us to write and to publish. She was a child and youth care worker in residential setting, now with a doctorate in social work. She knows well, as do I, that we, in South Africa have a lot to say.....and that's just what we do.  SAY it!  We are a nation of oral communicators. We are avid and animated story tellers, We don't write - very sad. YET, we all know the story..."If it's not recorded, .....it didn't happen".

If we don't publish we run the risk of being regarded as a lesser profession in the social service professional sector. 

Prof Adrian Van Breda is the editor of the journal South African Journal of Social Work and Social Development published by University of Johannesburg and Unisa Press. In a message to me he said " Would be good to have child and youth care literature". There is another Social Work Journal published at Stellenbosch in South Africa, Social Work/ Maatskaplikewerk. ...good thinking to publish in more than one language and to publish digitally

Of course we have a South African child and youth care journal! And ... it has international recognition . The NACCW published quarterly CHILD & YOUTH CARE WORK. I live in the bushveld.  Postal deliveries are slow, to no go. So the most recent I have is Quarter 1, 2018. The editorial apart, there are 6 articles in the journal of which, 3 are contributed by South Africans. The others are gleaned from non South African writers or journals. Interesting that one of these is a research report form a Phd student from Hamburg on research she did in Cape Town Childrens' Homes.

We have in South Africa, members on the editorial teams of at least two international e-journals Relational Child and Youth Care Practice (published quarterly) and  CYC-on line published by CYC-net (monthly).

There are many opportunities and space for us, as South African child and youth care to contribute writing for editorial teams to consider for publication. 

We can create space and opportunities for ourselves. How about a monthly newsletter for a NACCW Region, or for your organisation.? We can always make our Annual General Report booklets into a something worthwhile with our child and youth care contributions. Write in the social media, tell the success stories, in-house research outcomes,...even just a literature review is a helpful piece of writing.

As child and youth care workers we must write!

I have a few thoughts for talk .......better....a few thoughts for writing.

Writing is like prayer, You have to do it, to learn how to do it.

Composers of music, I am told, often get, or hear a melody in their heads. In these odd, often inopportune moments, they have to grab something to scribble it down. As an aspiring learner writer, that happens to me. Thoughts, ideas, words come and I have to write them down, then and there, otherwise they go as fast as they came. Frequently a line, a phrase, or even a whole page gets scribbled on a piece of scrap paper at odd times.....mainly when I'm standing somewhere. I seldom write sitting down. We all have our idiosyncrasies.

Roald Dahl had a wooden garden wendy house. At a certain time every morning he would go there, wrap his legs in a blanket and write for a few hours. He disciplined himself to write every day. 

Googling seems to feature as part of writing. As does reading. Apart from the information bit, reading develops for us a lexicon, a compendium, a vocabulary, a bank of words and style which later flow from the unconscious.

Where can we, as child and youth care workers draw ideas for our writing?

Simply, from what we do, our programmes, our creative interventions, our "Aha" moments or our internal struggles with the tensions between theory and practice. Our South African praxis.     I can never tire of saying ....our value to the world is in our South African, our indigenous way of doing things. If its not recorded,....it never happened.

Now we get to the actual writing part. There are short courses offered on writing for publication. I hope that soon child and youth care workers in South Africa will have to gather Continuing Professional Development points ( CPD points) for continued annual registration as professionals. A course for CPD points for writing for publication in child and youth care work is enticing.

Pointer 1 . Decide clearly for whom you are writing. Who is your target readership? Academics? First time, setting-out child and youth care workers? The international world of child and youth are? Who?. Be very sure of this. Obviously, the target readership determines style and language. This blog is called Child and Youth Care TALK. The idea is to have a conversation with busy child and youth care workers. A quick,easy read.

Pointer 2. Decide on your message. A single main message is ideal. Some supporting sub-messages, some narratives and examples  support the message... then sometimes they become the message!   I had a High School teacher who always said of us as pupils, "You remember the story but you forget the POINT !" 

Pointer 3. Plan, at least roughly. A point by point draft outline. Then you can expand on the points to make an article.

Pointer 4. Find a suitable title....something that will grab the attention of your target readership.

Pointer 5. Then write,!!! -  editing can come later. Don't worry too much about correctness. If you don't see it when you edit, the editorial team will help you out. The South African Council for Social Services Professions, for example have advertised for a language expert to edit writing before it's published. Most editorial teams tweek material before it goes into print .

Pointer 5.Write, write write, frequently. ....then is begins to flow.

Pointer 6 Think about picture stories, videos  books and blogs. 

Again, if we can think, if we experience ....and we do,....then we can write. As South African child and youth care workers we are known to be fearless, outspoken, colourful, creative, child-centered hardworking and unique. At very least we can tell of what we do. With our special qualities captured in print, we should not and cannot be demeaned as a profession.