WE GOT RIGHTS... RIGHT ???..........CHILD AND YOUTH CARE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Masud Hughoghi always spoke of "social order". Then he would ask, what constituted a disruption of social order? It was when individual behaviour didn't allow society to preserve some  tolerable level of smooth functioning. The question in this context , is, what is tolerable and what is intolerable ?

A young person is sitting at a bus shelter. On the bench next to him is another person. They talk. The adult makes the comment "You're  a bastard"  The young person takes offence, shouts "and you're a shit." (moderately tolerable). He kicks the other person (not tolerable). He kicks the wall behind the bus shelter ( tolerable).He stands up and moves away from the bus shelter ( tolerable and COPING no disruption to the social order). 

I always remember Brian Gannon saying," We are not an angel factory"

It's our work as child and youth care workers to co-regulate.to shoulder to shoulder young people as we use our professional knowledge and skills to help move such behaviour from intolerable...disruptive to the social order...to at least some level of good-enough coping,...tolerability. Again, "We are not an angel factory and we dont work with angels. It's what we do.

I used to call the process of supporting young people toward alternative, more tolerable ways of dealing with stress moments; "Exploring alternatives and rehearsals" It's coupled with the "What if"? approach. Lets imagine, "What if he calls you a bastard?"....and then? "What can you do?" "How about?"......Role play. REHEARSE, REHEARSE, REHEARSE.

So he calls you a "bastard, a fat bitch, an idiot" We really don't have an option!!  Modelling, we HAVE to walk away....Later when things are more settled we can come back to it."Let's talk".Go over the whole scenario again and maybe again. Consistency, in itself, is shown to be a therapeutic life-space tool, As professional agents of behavioural change, it's what we do. Not tolerable and moderately societally tolerable, a-social and even anti-social behaviour is what we EXPECT as child and youth care workers. We work with traumatised young people 

The question on social media was "Do we have rights as child and youth care workers? Then, "Management always supports the children and young people and we don't get support. But we get bullied Where do we stand,. Do we have rights?"

I guess it's an employment dilemma for all social service professionals. More so perhaps for child and youth care workers in the moment to moment life-space of young people with troubles.
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I was encouraged by Brian Gannon to move from one residential facility in which the young people were initially "out of control" to trouble shoot another where the young people were perhaps more out of control. He wrote me a letter. I treasure it. He voiced his guilt at moving me from one now settled facility to trouble shoot yet another. His conclusion. "But you are an intelligent mature adult. You knew what you were doing when you made the choice".

It's true.

I knew. I made the choice. I am responsible as a mature educated intelligent adult for the choice I made to work with troubled young people. I knew what to expect.

Time to straight talk .Time to talk RIGHTS  Do we as child and youth care workers have rights? - - Here's the dilemma

As citizens of South Africa, we have rights. As humans we all have rights. Child and youth care workers most often quote their rights to property. "what's mine is mine" Others quoted are the right to be safe from injury and the right to take judicial action against an offender of my rights. In society, socially disruptive intolerable  behaviour takes the "remove/ punishment "response to restore social order.

Again the dilemma.

Children being vulnerable have more rights than adults. As we approach children we have as the supreme law, the South African Constitution. This requires any action with children  to be "in the best interests of the child" Then, children and young people in care or detention have additional rights. As do children and young people in "alternative care.". As child and youth care workers.we work within what we have come to call, a "child rights culture"
This pervades our philosophy,In practice we live this out as a reclaiming culture of development, discipline  and restoration  different from societies culture of removal, punishment and revenge. This leaves us as life-space professionals, ourselves to "be the world we want to see. 

I must however say that I have experienced some incidents when the "best interests"  learning tool was decided by the multi-disciplinary team's considered thinking, to be the formal judicial route.In some instances it was inevitable.

Firstly, a member of the public lays a charge. Best we could do was to approach the public prosecutor to somehow trust our facility and its child and youth care practice. Public prosecutors can think  in terms of suspended sentence, diversion, community service or delayed charges. A court appearance became a window of opportunity for some useful child and youth care work to be done. It's NOT IDEAL, but it does happen. It gave us a the primary support worker to say, "I don't approve or accept what you DID, but I will support YOU through the court proceedings every step of the way."

 I recall an incident. A boy climbed the drain pipe to the first floor apartment of the residential remedial teacher's flat. He stole a box of cash savings. She and her husband rightfully felt intruded and robbed. The husband decided to lay charges. He was not in our employ. Court proceedings followed. He was given a 6 month sentence suspended for 2 years.In-house procedures clicked in. A restorative conference. It involved all affected parties as well as the boy's father. The father was moved to express his feelings... how all this affected him. I'll never forget. He expressed shame and embarrassment. He said he felt the family name had been tarnished. Well, for the first time we saw genuine guilt, remorse  in that young person. Even tears.   The boy undertook to repair the paddock fencing with a wire-puller, L,Income from the labour repaid the lost cash. Goodenough in-house justice had been somehow restored. The staff member and her husband chose to continue in the facility. 

For a manager when it becomes an issue of losing a staff member or losing a child over an issue of rights, i becomes a huge dilemma. In many such cases the child or young person has really no where else to go. Restorative justice remain.

Young people will kick against the system. They WILL kick against US as they launch themselves like a backstroke swimmer into unknown and unfamiliar waters. It's very scary to change habitual behaviour acquired over years. As challenging as it may be. as child and youth care workers , we WILL feel that thrusting kick off against us. We provide the firm platform, the foundation.

We don't lose our rights. We will hold off as we co-regulate young people to self-regulation, more tolerable and better coping ways.

Having said all of this. Managers have to support us in the difficult work we do. It's not a matter of favouring the child over the professional. It's a matter of  partnership as  a fellow co-regulator and agent of change.

 It's the most difficult work in the world. It's our work. It's what we do.