PETROL ON THE FIRE ???..CHILD AND YOUTH CARE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Prof Nick Smiar at his "Ethics Seminar"was quoted as saying "Don't put petrol on the fire!" I thought that it had to do with the way we, as professional child and youth care workers were tackling our current unacceptable situation. I was corrected. He was referring to possible counter-aggression if caught in the stress cycle. Still, the thought came to me. Are we using counter-aggressive tactics as a reaction? "Putting petrol on the fire"?

If poorly serviced, unheeded, unheard, it has become a South African pattern of thought that we are now left only with taking to the streets, with memoranda for parliamentary ministers.

Maybe we do need a change of tactic. 

One of the problems we have is that we look inward then put it all "out there" in the social media (and in this blogsite) seemingly preaching to the converted. We may be contemplating our own navels, then addressing the same whatsapp group.... the navel gazing community of child and youth care workers.

Attention grabbing this week was a facebook call for child and youth care workers to use all the social media....whatsapp, facebook, twitter....and more, to "market" ourselves. The argument was that government and the other recognised structures in the field have not done this.
Obviously,We don't need convincing of our own value to children and the nation. A massive campaign has to be launched to create NATIONAL AWARENESS around what child and youth care is, and what child and youth care workers do, the value we add to social change social justice and a better life for all. 

So how now?

My first thought was that we have nothing to market unless our professional practice is branded by its excellent professional service to children and young people without in any way being "staged".  Our clients (includes families) must become our "word of mouth" publicity. Our professional registration is not just a number. It is a guarantee that our practice is not just some kind of superficial caring, that it is ethical and free from any malpractice. The children and their families have to experience it as such. They are our strongest marketing message in any of our settings but especially, it seems, when we practice directly in the public eye. Community-based work, family preservation, prevention programmes, follow-up and drop-in services put our practice on public display. 

Its tempting to use the children and parents themselves then, as a strategic marketing initiative. I remember two painful experiences At a conference/seminar in a packed auditorium, a group of girls each gave testimony to the quality if service they were experiencing in a residential "home". The problem was that they were obviously schooled, rehearsed and presenting a carefully staged performance ..Two questions from the audience and the pretence could not be sustained. Half the group openly cried. I hope they got supportive counselling.

In my workplace one morning I looked out of my window to see a small herd of strangers being accompanied through the grounds and into the dormitories. The boys in care had not been in any way consulted. I knew nothing of the arrangement. My outrage was that resident children and young persons were used, put on show,to promote the child and youth care service invaded in their private spaces. No! No! 

Two awareness ah-ha moments impressed. 

I heard , without staging, some young people tell their own stories. They were volunteers, who had experienced programme  and transitioned into independence. "Now it's like this"."Life has changed" "Next year I qualify as a lawyer"...... Now that felt OK. On one occasion the Minister said "The President must hear this". 

The National Association for Child Care Workers (NACCW) has a story telling initiative. It is in attractive booklet form. Success stories are told. These booklets do exactly what we need to promote the child and youth care profession.
But again ... who reads these ?  Navel gazers? the wider public? government? Let's hope all of the above? There is a view that if we want to hide something...put it in print.....Pity!

Obviously the media is an awareness and marketing tool.  The comment on facebook around the "failure"of the organised structures to "market" child and youth care work may have to do with there being little or no, time-framed plan for extensive exposure in news media, magazine, journals and especially on National TV such as other social service and helping professions appear to get. If this is taken up by child and youth care workers ourselves it would have to be very carefully strategised and managed. What is once said or printed, there is no going back .The big picture and any long term thinking of the organised structures must be taken into account. We desperately need to identify credible people who can think and speak on their feet. Which reminds me, Service clubs like Rotary are always on the lookout for speakers.

I am in no way discounting the power of social media as a means of conveying our message. Notwithstanding the "hide it in text" theory, as child and youth care workers in South Africa, we don't publish enough of our unique African practice.We simply don't write enough and we have so much that should be told to the country and the world. We do great work here. The Universities used to say "Publish or Perish" I would think that they still do. Maybe as a field in South Africa, we should take up that mantra.

What has been said? A non confrontational, non counter-aggressive strategy would be to plan and operate a time-framed strategy to build awareness of the professional value of child and youth care work in the public and government. Let us make use of the full range of media at our disposal. In one of my previous blogs there was mention of interest groups, lobby groups, advocacy groups action groups and Social Action Organisations. Unfortunately usually a strategy on this scale needs some type of structure and a group of skilled persons to operate it.

The struggle continues... ever upwards