Turn your passion for helping into a rewarding career.

The three-year Child and Youth Care Ontario College Advanced Diploma program prepares you to support vulnerable children, youth and families with complex needs.

Learn a wide range of prevention and intervention strategies that foster positive change and healthy development. Assess the strengths and needs of young people and families and develop interventions to meet those needs. Apply the principles of relational practice, lifespace engagement and anti-oppressive practice while working with children, youth and families. In classes, you learn practical and theoretical concepts and then apply them in field placements.

Working with young people in field placements helps you to develop into a confident and competent child and youth care practitioner. By the end of this program, you have practical experience in two different work environments in the field of child and youth care, three days a week during your second and third year of the program.

This program offers two courses in outdoor activities. In these courses, you learn to facilitate activities in the outdoors while on a camping trip with fellow classmates and faculty - a truly memorable learning experience.

Through this program, students are certified in Non-Violent Crisis Intervention through the Crisis Prevention Institute.

There is a wide variety of work opportunities for you after graduation. As a child and youth care practitioner, you may find employment in a variety of environments:

• group homes
• hospitals
• mental health treatment centres shelters
• schools
• youth justice programs
• community resource centres

If you are interested in furthering your education, this program is a good foundation for future studies in child and youth care, education, social work, psychology and sociology.

SUCCESS FACTORSThis program is well-suited for students who:

• Are emotionally strong and able to cope with stress, challenges and crises.
• Are committed to understanding, working with and facilitating positive change in the lives of children, youth, families and the community.
• Prefer to work as a member of a team.
• Have strong observation and analytical skills.
• Have strong language (oral and written) skills.
• Are open minded, embrace the concept of diversity, respect and accept the uniqueness in others.

Careers

Graduates may find employment as child and youth care practitioners; youth workers; educational assistants; case coordinator; child advocate; child and youth counsellor; community, family, or housing support workers.

Pathways

Please note: There may be more pathways available for this program than are listed here. Please use our Pathways search tool to see every option.

The graduate has reliably demonstrated the ability to:

1. Develop and maintain therapeutic relationships with children, youth and their families, respecting their unique life spaces, and applying the principles of relational practice to meet their needs.
2. Assess the strengths, developmental and holistic needs of children, youth and their families, using methods grounded in theoretical frameworks, research and therapeutic practices, to develop care and intervention plans.
3. Develop and implement care and intervention plans appropriate for the therapeutic milieu using evidence-informed practices and research to provide support for children, youth, and their families.
4. Use equitable and inclusive approaches that are anti-colonial, anti-oppressive, anti-racist, and strength-based frameworks, as well as cultural humility, to create positive and sustainable solutions and respond to inequities and to systemic barriers experienced by children, youth and their families.
5. Advocate for, and in solidarity with, children, youth, their families and communities through their participation in the development and implementation of care and intervention plans that uphold their rights.
6. Employ communication, collaboration and relational skills with the inter-professional team and with community partners to ensure and enhance the professionalism of practice.
7. Engage in self-inquiry, relational inquiry and critical reflection to develop strategies for learning and the practice of self-care, as a practitioner.
8. Use professional development resources and supervision to increase professional capacity, learning and leadership skills.
9. Adhere to relevant legislation and Child and Youth Care standards of practice, competencies, and codes of ethics as a practitioner.
10. Practice in a variety of contexts and settings, respecting needs for developmental growth, safety, wellbeing and agency, while addressing the varying age and developmental ranges of children, youth, and their families.
11. Employ crisis prevention and intervention techniques, and harm-reduction principles, with children, youth and their families in the provision of care, to ensure their safety, resolution of crises, and reparation of relationships.
12. Develop the capacity to work with children, youth and families who identify with Indigenous, Black, and racialized communities, as well as people in LGBTQ2+ and disabled communities, by identifying systemic inequities and barriers, integrating practices such as trauma-informed care, and respecting their inherent rights to self-determine.
13. Identify and apply discipline-specific practices that contribute to the local and global community through social responsibility, economic commitment and environmental stewardship.

Application Information

CHILD AND YOUTH CARE
Program Code 0476X01FWO

Applications to full-time day programs must be submitted with official transcripts showing completion of the academic admission requirements through:

ontariocolleges.ca
60 Corporate Court
Guelph, Ontario N1G 5J3
1-888-892-2228

Students currently enrolled in an Ontario secondary school should notify their Guidance Office prior to their online application at www.ontariocolleges.ca.

Applications for Fall Term and Winter Term admission received by February 1 will be given equal consideration. Applications received after February 1 will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis as long as places are available.

International applicants please visit this link for application process information: https://algonquincollege.force.com/myACint/.

For further information on the admissions process, contact:

Registrar`s Office
Algonquin College
1385 Woodroffe Ave
Ottawa, ON K2G 1V8
Telephone: 613-727-0002
Toll-free: 1-800-565-4723
TTY: 613-727-7766
Fax: 613-727-7632
Contact: https://www.algonquincollege.com/ro

Program Resources

Field Placement Eligibility:
Field placements occur only in second and third year of the program.

To be eligible for placement, you must submit proof of Standard First Aid certification, CPR level C, PRCSVS, and complete and up to date immunizations to ParaMed. ParaMed services are the third-party provider who collects all field placement documentation for the Community Studies department.

Police Records Check Documentation:
Students must provide the College with a current Police Records Check for Service with the Vulnerable Sector (PRCSVS) prior to field placement and students are responsible for any associated costs. If this documentation is not submitted by the deadline identified by the department, students may not be placed in field practice and progression through the program may be delayed. If you cannot complete field placement, you will not be able to graduate.

Health Requirements:
The physical and emotional health of each applicant to the program must be such that he or she can successfully cope with the program of instruction including the demands of field placement .If you have any physical or emotional limitations that may impact your studies contact the coordinator of the program prior to submitting an application.

Scheduling:
The Child and Youth Care program consists of courses that are delivered in a variety of formats including face-to-face in a classroom, hybrid (combination of classroom and online learning) and online courses. Students participate in all three types of learning. Students also participate in laboratory and field placement learning activities.

Class schedules vary from term to term and courses may be scheduled between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. Classes for first-year students run Monday through Friday. Second and third-year classes take place on campus two days per week. Field placements occur off campus three days per week. Some field placements require the student to be available for evening or weekend shifts.

There is only a 2-week break between the first and second year of the program for students in the January intake. Students who begin the program in January will complete the first year from January to August, and complete the second year of the program from September to April.