Child & youth care workers save our kids. They should be recognized for that work | Opinion

There’s a funny story of a seminar where a psychiatrist, a family social worker and a psychologist were speaking to a group of Child and Youth Care Workers (CYCs). One of the workers asked a question, “What should I do when I’m driving my kids somewhere and one of them in the back seat of the van starts ‘giving the finger’ to every truck we pass?”

None of the “experts” had a clue, but several of the CYCs in the audience had effective suggestions based on their own similar experiences.

Most of the young people in Kentucky’s residential treatment facilities are not “mentally ill;” they have severe behavioral problems in relating to peers and adults, resulting from the trauma of years of abuse and neglect.

Treatment for this is provided by Child and Youth Care Workers who lovingly teach them the lessons of life. That is — waking up and making your bed, doing your homework, speaking with your peers without shouting or cursing, passing the potatoes at dinner, and riding in the van without antagonizing truck drivers — all the things necessary to get through the day successfully.

When I was the CEO at Buckhorn, one of our CYCs won the prestigious annual award given by the Child Welfare League of America as “Outstanding Youth Worker of the Southern United States.” I loved watching as a television reporter kept asking him how he felt about winning this award, but his response was only about how specific young people had grown and changed. The award was not nearly as important to him as the progress of “his kids.”

CYCs don’t necessarily need doctoral degrees for this critical work, but they must have an abundance of talent, training and experience. Scholars and literature in the field of residential care recognize these staff as the most important part of a child’s treatment. Of course, individual and group counseling by licensed clinical staff is also vital, but the other 23 hours in the day are the treatment domain of the CYCs.

Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services doesn’t seem to understand, since they plan to devalue the work of CYCs. They are asking residential facilities to bill separately for clinical treatment and euphemistically bill the work of CYCs only as “watchful oversight.”

Initially, this might save a few dollars, but over time it will encourage turnover and the hiring of low-wage workers with little of the talent and experience required. Young people will subsequently not receive the care they need.

Our Canadian neighbors are clear about this, many of the CEOs of their residential treatment facilities began their careers as CYCs. I was a CYC myself before I earned my master’s in social work.

Please join me in advocating for Kentucky to recognize the value of our CYCs by professionalizing and credentialing them. Our troubled young people would benefit most from professional care all 24 hours.

Charles L. Baker, MSSW, is the retired CEO of the Presbyterian Child Welfare Agency in Buckhorn, KY. Reach him at charliebaker@me.com.