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CYCCB Office
1212 Orr Street
College Station, Texas 77840
979-764-7306

Competencies

Competencies for Professional Child & Youth Work Practitioners

2010 Competencies for Professional CYW Practitioners 1© 2010 Association for Child & Youth Care Practice

This document articulates the competencies necessary for fully professional practice across the various settings in which Child and Youth Care Professionals work. This document is the result of many years of work by North American Child and Youth Care Professionals. Initial development was undertaken by the North American Certification Project (NACP), sponsored by the Association for Child and Youth Care Practice. In March 2010, the Competency Review Committee of the Child and Youth Care Certification Board (CYCCB) completed a review of the competencies and recommended language changes to better reflect diverse settings and evolving practices. These changes are included in this document.

The complete Competencies for Professional Child & Youth Work Practitioners (2010) can be downloaded HERE.

Foundational Attitudes for Professional Child and Youth Care Work

The Child and Youth Care Professional demonstrates the following attitudes which underlie all professional work:

  • Accepts the moral and ethical responsibility inherent in practice
  • Promotes the well-being of children, youth and families in a context of respect and collaboration
  • Values care as essential for emotional growth, social competence, rehabilitation, and treatment
  • Celebrates the strengths generated from cultural and human diversity
  • Values individual uniqueness
  • Values family, community, culture and human diversity as integral to the developmental and interventive process
  • Believes in the potential and empowerment of children, youth, family and community
  • Advocates for the rights of children, youth, and families
  • Promotes the contribution of professional child and youth care to society

CYC Competencies

The CYC Competencies are organized across five domains:

  1. Professionalism
  2. Cultural & human diversity
  3. Applied human development
  4. Relationship & communication
  5. Developmental practice methods