"Written in an inviting and conversational style, this text introduces foundational research methods for the study and practice of child and youth care, aiming to awaken a lifelong interest in how research can inform, improve, and evoke critical reflection on what child and youth care is, and can be, about. The text builds basic practical research skills, such as how to conduct interviews and focus groups, construct research questions and surveys, recruit research subjects, collect and analyze data, and select qualitative and quantitative research designs to best serve each project. Drawing all its examples from the field of child and youth care and written from an explicitly anti-racist perspective, the text covers the intersections of research and advocacy work and includes a chapter dedicated to Afrocentric and Indigenous research approaches."--

In an inviting and conversational style, author Kiaras Gharabaghi offers a concise guide introducing foundational research methods for the study and practice of child and youth care, aiming to awaken a lifelong interest in how research can inform, improve, and evoke critical reflection on what child and youth care is, and can be, about. Presenting research as a relational tool, the text builds basic practical research skills, such as how to conduct interviews and focus groups, how to construct research questions and surveys, and how to select research designs to best serve each project. This essential volume highlights research as an important element of child and youth care practice, explores different qualitative and quantitative research designs, and examines how they are implemented, including various aspects of recruiting research subjects, the collection and analysis of data, and the limitations of research. Written from an explicitly anti-racist perspective, the text includes a chapter dedicated to Afrocentric and Indigenous research approaches and draws all its examples from the field of child and youth care. The rich in-text pedagogical features include a glossary of key terms and two appendices that detail an ethics protocol and describe a small research project from start to finish. Students of child and youth care, social work, and youth work/development programs are bound to appreciate this engaging and highly readable text. FEATURES: - Covers the politics of research, the intersections of research and advocacy work, and Afrocentric and Indigenous research lenses - Features text boxes showcasing research insights, interviews with child and youth care researchers, and ethical considerations - Accessible for those new to research in child and youth care, while offering insight into how to deeply understand research at more advanced levels of engagement

The first of its kind, this practicum-specific resource serves as an accompanying guidebook for fieldwork, placement, or classroom instruction in child and youth care practice. Child and Youth Care in the Field: A Practicum Guidebook uses critical reflection to facilitate student learning and growth throughout the practicum experience. Students can apply and build upon the theory and skills acquired during their fieldwork by utilizing the engaging workbook features and writing spaces included in the text. This resource helps prepare students for practicum and expand their self-awareness by discussing the challenges and difficulties they will encounter in the field, and by providing insight on how to navigate the decision-making process. With the increasing need for a hands-on resource in child and youth care studies, this book is well suited for first year, field placement, and professional skills courses in child and youth care programs at the college and university level.

This book provides an overview of the core professional issues in the field of child and youth care practice. The author explores themes ranging from relationships and the exploration of Self to career building and field-specific approaches to management. The book is written from a pragmatic perspective, and serves both to advance current thinking in the field about professional issues as well as to provide the student of child and youth care practice and practitioners with practical and accessible approaches to developing a strong and sustainable professional identity. All of the themes in this book are explored within a context of ethical decision-making and practice approaches informed by a commitment to children’s rights and empowerment. Throughout the discussions, concepts and themes are considered in relation to four specific lenses: the power lens, the diversity lens, the language lens and the transitioning from theory to practice lens. These lenses serve to ensure that the reader adopts a critical understanding of the professional issues in the field and is able to develop his or her own professional identity while mitigating the power and identity issues necessarily associated with being a practitioner in a helping profession. This book was published as a special issue of Child and Youth Services.

This title was first published in 2002. The field of child and youth care is under increasing pressure to optimize its mission: to deliver high quality support and to help children, parents and families in need of care. This unique and valuable book brings to light a new vision on developments and research in the field and informs the reader on recent findings.

Child and Youth Care across Sectors aims to reflect the changing field by capturing a diverse array of themes and issues through an inclusive framework. In Volume 2, the contributors continue the discussion on sectors and contexts of child and youth care, with an emphasis on giving space and voice to different ways of thinking about and describing the field. Focusing on acknowledging and confronting the complex issues within child and youth care, this new volume includes groundbreaking chapters on pertinent topics from homelessness to immigration, antiracism, African-centred praxis, and Indigenous ways of being. Expanding from the first volume, this text explores additional settings of child and youth care, including hospitals, schools, day treatment programs, and the complicated youth criminal justice sector. As the field of child and youth care continues to evolve, this timely and thought-provoking text will be vital for students, scholars, and practitioners in child and youth care, in Canada and abroad. FEATURES: - Incorporates discussions on Canada’s northern provinces and territories,specifically Labrador and Nunavut, in child and youth care contexts and regions typically neglected in the field - Includes chapters centering Indigenous ways of being and thinking, written by Indigenous scholars