RECENT QUESTIONS...CHILD AND YOUTH CARE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Child and Youth Care chat groups (Facebook) are ideal platforms for tapping into the opinions of colleagues, get some answers, and raise discussion which, hopefully may bring about change in work .conditions for child and youth care workers.

These are some of the recently asked questions.

Some responses in this blog are not definitive answers, but conversation starters.

* Who is responsible for the registration of child and youth care workers with the South African Council for Social Service Professionals (SACSSP) - management or the individual child and youth care worker?
My response. Each have different responsibilities. Registration is an individual responsibility. Anyone practicing Child and Youth Care Work must register themselves with the SACSSP. Failure to do this can result in professional sanctions being imposed. Management , however, is in breach of the South African Social Services Act if they employ, or have in employ, unregistered child and youth care practitioners. Legal action can be taken. Some employers do make organisational provisions to ensure and assist child and youth care workers to maintain Council annual registration.

* How do we report unethical conduct?
My response. There is but one way to do this. A formal complaint must be lodged with the SACSSP. 
Go to htpps//www.sacssp.co.za/professional/conduct
Click "Complaints". Scroll down to "Complaints Form". Click to download the form. Submit the completed form to Council.

* What is the purpose of the Child Care Act 74 of 1983?
My response. " The primary objects of the Act are intended to give effect to children's constitutional rights to family and parental care, or, as a  last resort to alternative care when removed from the family environment ,To protect from maltreatment, neglect, abuse and degradation and to the promotion of the best interests of the child."
See: https//socialworkjournals.ac.za

* What's the difference between Level 4 and the Level 5 Child and Youth Care  Further Education and Training Certificate (FETC)?  
My response: The comment attached was "I see no difference". There is a difference. The Quality Council for Trade and Occupations (QCTO) consulted with a nation-wide group of stake-holders through representative Child and Youth Care Community Expert Practitioners (CYC CEP). The level of the curriculum was revised to upgrade it. Obviously , much if not all, Level 4 content was retained. It was upgraded to university entrance level.The main difference is in the learning level at which it is assessed. Level 4 FETC was assessed primarily/mainly at the lower and middle order of Bloom's Taxonomy. Level 5 mainly at the middle and higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. It means the assessment of the child and youth care worker's ability to Analyse, Evaluate and to Create, that is, for example, to take case studies and child and youth care scenarios and to analyse behaviours and underlying meaning, to assess through appraisal, to argue, detect, judge critique. Then, to design their own child and youth care practice suggestions ans solutions.

* For how many years must you work for a non-government organisation (NGO/NPO) before you get an increase (in salary)?
My response: As the organisational name implies, an NPO/NGO is not tied to government and so, not tied to government salary scales. They often argue that they will pay what they can afford because they rely on donations, funding and State grants. Child and youth care worker post 'cost to organisation' is not ( if ever) the funding formula applied to NGO's as it is in some instances for Social Workers., If donor or State funding is problematic in any one year, you may be told that an increase is unaffordable. It would be good for NGO's to follow the state salary scales, or at very least have a set of scales to which it is committed as far as possible. This would reduce the drift of child and youth care workers to state facilities when the opportunities arise.

* Which is the best Trade Union for child and youth care workers?
My response: I am not in a position to answer this question. Child and youth care worker's opinions differ on this. Some express a level of disappointment in the existing Trade Unions and say that child and youth care workers should have their own field specific Trade Union. Of interest is that the law permits anyone to register a Trade Union (T's and C's apply). and that Social Workers have registered a Trade Union of their own in South Africa.

* Am I supposed to cook, do the laundry, clean, and in some instances garden?
My response: The first response is "NO". Child and youth care workers are not domestic workers. It's our responsibility to develop young people from dependency, through co-dependency to independence, from not coping to coping. In this, our developmental practice is to do things with children only if the learning is needed, and not for them...certainly not for the organisation.  Domestic help is an essential support service to the child and youth care worker's professional practice. 

* Is there a dress code for child and youth care workers?
My response: First a comment on the use of a uniform for child and youth care workers which is seen by some to be an answer to the dress code debate.Way back in 1995, the team of 21, who undertook the Cabinet Enquiry into Places of Safety and of "Detention" were very clear on uniforms for child and youth care workers. They thought that it wasn't in the young people's best therapeutic interests for child and youth care workers to wear a uniform. The reason was that a uniform created distance between the young person and the child and youth care worker in the practice of therapeutic relationship building. So is there then a dress code? I know of no standard dress code...especially not in the NGO sector. The Professional Assault Response training (PART) course has what appears to be a responsible guideline. Teh first line, "dress appropriately for the occasion". What then is "appropriate" in the child and youth care worker's situational professional life-space practice?
My question is, "What are the young people learning? What message do we carry to the young people through our dress? PART says we should dress to convey the message that "no-one gets hurt here". Check all clothing and accessories to be sure that in any situation no-one will inflict any form of injury to another...child and youth care worker on a young person,  young person on child and youth care worker,  Watch out for sharp watch straps, belt buckles, earings that can be pulled to tear the ears, long hair that can bu knotted around a hand and yanked. Wear rubber sole shoes for easy movement and to guard against slipping. Then clothing? Again and again, "What message does our clothing choice convey to the young person?

 * Can we burn mphephu in the child and youth care Centre?
(mphephu is a herb valued by (African) traditional healers. It is burnt to smudge and to communicate with the ancestors, calm evil spirits and repel negative energy)
My response: I would certainly hope so!!