The shift from client-focused Child & Youth Care to integrating the needs of the client’s family is paramount in the field of Child & Youth Care. Family work gives the Child & Youth Care worker the unique opportunity to understand the ability and needs of the children and youth they work with.
This course will address this shift and will focus on strategies used with the child and their family within the context of his or her home as well as emphasize the broader social, economic, cultural, and community environments. Interventions/strategies will be looked at from a strength-based approach.
Students will be introduced to a variety of topics in this course including: the role of the Child & Youth Care worker in relation to family work; understanding the child/youth in the context of their family; personal beliefs, preferences and facts about families; evidenced based family interventions; foundations for family assessment and intervention; and working collaboratively with families in their home and in the community as a way to promote change.
