Becoming Dynamic Facilitators of Change: Acting to Advance the Well-Being of Ontario’s Children and Youth
By Cathy Vine and Michael Saini

"Children are our Future" "No Child Left Behind" "Children First" Most social workers are familiar with these slogans, intended to spark interest and action on issues affecting the health, education and well-being of children and youth. Despite the inroads made by long-standing efforts like Campaign 2000, Ontario continues to be plagued with more children and families living in poverty, more incidents of child physical abuse, neglect and exposure to violence, more children coming into foster care, more youth becoming involved with the legal system, and more children being left behind by policies and programs that simply do not address their needs (see Table 1). Ontario has what it takes to be a place where every child is valued and grows up safe, nourished, sheltered and educated with access to key supports and opportunities. And yet children and youth are being left behind, denied opportunities to achieve their potential and grow into future leaders and stewards of our province.

Few organizations articulated these issues more clearly than Voices for Children. With Voices for Children now closed, the promotion of children‘s well-being in Ontario has lost a significant voice. It is therefore timely to reconsider social work‘s professional responsibility and commitment to our most vulnerable populations. All of the persistent challenges facing children and youth must continue to be confronted with rejuvenated efforts and a recommitment of workers to become active agents of change. There are encouraging developments in research, practice and community activities. With Ontario‘s recent appointment of its first independent Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, it is time to renew our advocacy efforts to promote the rights of children to be heard and to be actively involved when decisions are made that will affect them.

The Disconnect Between Our Aspirations and Current Realities

Despite the valiant efforts of social workers, individuals, organizations and communities, good information, good ideas and good advocacy, efforts do not have the impact they ought to. Why is this? Table 2 explores the disconnect between our values and aspirations and the current realities of our practice.

There is no question that social workers have a positive impact on the lives of children and youth every day, and that many of our customary roles (ranging from advocates, brokers and counsellors to educators and researchers) ideally position us to advocate for children and youth. We do not recognize or celebrate our successes often enough. We are, however, concerned about the disconnect we see between our values and aspirations and the realities that continue to confront children and youth in Ontario. The task before us today is: how can we, as social workers, remodel ourselves to capitalize on our growing knowledge base and confront the challenges that are particular to child advocacy in Ontario in 2009?

Becoming Facilitators of Change

We must have a collective vision of what we want for young people and what supports and conditions are needed to realize that vision. We need to imagine what new roles and activities may be better suited to take us there. We will not accomplish our aspirations unless we re-think where our energy and attention should be focused. For example, we need to consider the roles that social workers can undertake to support young people to become actively and creatively involved in change efforts. Social workers need to consider how we can energetically support the ideas and initiatives developed by young people. We need stronger collaboration between researchers and community members. We are well prepared to take on the tasks of linking, connecting and fostering collaboration among various sectors. Social workers need to act on the internal voice that says, ―If only we could…‖ This new working model is vital, as various social agencies are being required to renew, adapt, refine, revise and evaluate the services they provide for children and their families to ensure these services are based on the best available evidence of effectiveness and efficiency. Governments have endorsed a partnership-based orientation by promoting research programs for which participation by academic institutions and community organizations is a requirement. For example, CURA programs (Community University Research Alliance) and the SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) Strategic Knowledge Clusters, as well as the Knowledge Translation Strategy and other CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) partnership programs, reflect this shift.

Moving Forward

There is a new space being carved for child advocacy in Ontario with the appointment of our first independent child and youth advocate. Here are some new strategies that we are encouraging social workers to adopt in order to become more active facilitators of positive change.

Create Opportunities for Public Engagement in Children’s Issues

Public engagement requires the participation of all stakeholders, including decision-makers, researchers, professionals, children, families, and community leaders. Bridge the divide among stakeholders by focusing on shared visions and common concerns of child poverty, child maltreatment and youth crime. Shape public debates constructively to optimize media coverage and inform public perceptions that prove influential in the policy process.

Build and Support a “Community of Interest”

Create opportunities for researchers, advocates, service providers, policy-makers and people living with particular issues/challenges — including parents, children and youth — to share information, issues and ideas on a regular basis. Building relationships among stakeholders and promoting personal contact is key to building effective "community of interest" teams to better identify issues, develop effective responses and measure change.

From Consultation to Involvement

Provide an environment for young people and parents to give feedback on services and materials and equally importantly, create opportunities for them to become actively involved from start to finish. Consider the silent voices and actively include those who may not have historically had a place at the table.

Empower Children and Youth

Engage young people and encourage them to develop and act on their own ideas and solutions. Youth engagement depends on adults being engaged with them. Speak with young people instead of about them at every opportunity. Encourage them to speak for themselves. Involve young people in decision-making processes; and encourage them to enhance their skills to advocate for change.

From Information to People…from Dissemination to Dialogue

Work with researchers to translate evidence into clear messages for change so as to shift the focus from producing good reports and passive dissemination (posting on a web site or sending out reports by mail) to finding creative and multi-pronged strategies to stimulate dialogue and mobilize stakeholder groups.

Research Is Power: Use New Knowledge for Advocacy

Research is meant to illuminate opinion, enable policy-makers to orient themselves and create a climate of action. The growing influence of evidence to inform practice has led to a "community of interest" between research, policy and practice to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and young people. Social workers need to be supported to become better consumers of research evidence and to develop the critical skills needed to assess the relevance, credibility and applicability of new evidence affecting children and youth.

Conclusion and Invitation

We must celebrate every success so that all of us can participate in positive change-making for and with children and youth. We need to shine a light on solutions and the steps taken to get there. We have much to learn from each other. There is still much work to be done. We know that in some of Ontario‘s remote First Nations communities, children and youth are being denied their basic rights to safe drinking water and an education. We know that 345,000 children in Ontario continue to be compromised by poverty. We continue to collect data on many aspects of children‘s development, but we still do not have an overall picture of whether things are improving or getting worse. We do not know how to make the most of evidence to inform policy and practice with children and their families.

These are difficult problems to solve and we need to use creative ways to find solutions. There are some activities we can do independently, while others are best accomplished within organizations and communities or through networks and coalitions. We would like to hear from you. How do you suggest we renew, adapt and refine our advocacy efforts to become more effective in meeting the needs of children and youth in Ontario? We invite you to send your suggestions and success stories so we can showcase solutions and highlight the possibilities. Please email: cyag@oasw.org

Previously published in the OASW News Magazine: Volume 34, Number 4, November ’08

About the Authors:

Cathy Vine, MSW, RSW, advocates for the well-being, rights and inclusion of children and youth and was the Executive Director of Voices for Children. Currently, she engages in research, writing and action projects to advance the interests of children and youth. Previously, Cathy worked extensively with children, youth and adults affected by child abuse and intimate violence. She conducted research, developed innovative support and clinical services, and taught part-time at the School of Social Work, Ryerson University. Cathy co-wrote ―Gardens of Shame: The Tragedy of Martin Kruze and the Sexual Abuse at Maple Leaf Gardens‖ and co-edited "Cruel but not Unusual: Violence in Canadian Families‖, 2006.

Michael Saini, PhD, MSW, RSW, Assistant Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, specializes in child welfare, child custody, parenting after divorce and separation, and alternative dispute resolutions. He is also involved in a number of systematic reviews of interventions related to social work, and he supports evidence-based practice, knowledge transfer (KT) and evaluation of KT activities and products for professional practice. He is a member of the Executive of OASW‘s Board of Directors, and an active member of the Association‘s Children & Youth Issues Advisory Task Group.

End Notes

i) Williams, Vulnerable Children. University of Alberta Press, 2002.

ii) Offord D. R., Boyle, M. H., Fleming, J. E., Monroe Blum H. & Rae Grant N. Ontario Child Health Study: Summary of selected results. Can J Psychiatry 1989;34:483–91.; World Health Organization. Atlas: child and adolescent mental health resources: global concerns, implications for the future. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2005; World Health Organization. The world health report 2001– Mental Health: new understanding, new hope. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2001; Davidson S, Manion IG. Facing the challenge: mental health and illness in Canadian youth.

iii) Campaign 2000, http://www.campaign2000.ca/rc/rc07/2007_ON_Report_Card%20_Engl_Mar2008.pdf?x=115291

iv) Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Abuse and Neglect – 2003. http://www.mcgill.ca/files/crcf/2005_OIS_2003_Major_Findings.pdf

v) Statistics Canada. Major Causes of Death. 2005.http://142.206.72.67/02/02b/02b_003_e.htm

vi) Waddell, Lomas, Offord, and Giacomini, 2001

vii) Gough, P., Trocmé, N., Brown, I., Knoke, D., and Blackstock, C. (2005). Pathways to overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in care. CECW Information Sheet #23E. Toronto, ON, Canada: University of Toronto. www.cecw-cepb.ca/DocsEng/AboriginalChildren23E.pdf

viii) Some of the ideas and research presented in this paper were initially developed at Voices for Children and in discussions with the OASW Children & Youth Issues Advisory Task Group.

ix) Donnison, 1972; Kufeldt & McKenzie, 2003

x) Kufeldt & McKenzie, 2003

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