This program provides degree-completion opportunities for students from a range of human service disciplines. The CYC program is tailored to part-time students and those already in the workforce, with core course offerings scheduled for afternoons and evenings. Students without a background in the human services field may apply to the program following successful completion of entrance requirements. The BA in Child and Youth Care is designed to offer credit-based professional education to practitioners in human services agencies working with children, youth, and families. Most child and youth care workers are balancing agency, family, personal, and professional needs as they pursue training or upgrading in an increasingly demanding and complex field. Child and youth care is an expanding field. It crosses a range of work settings and areas of practice, including residential/group home programs, regular and alternative school programs, day care and early childhood programs, child life/hospital-based programs, youth justice/ probation/young offender programs, special needs foster care, parent/counsellor resources, programs for people with mental disabilities, and early intervention and child development centres. Workers, supervisors, managers, and trainers in these programs bring a diverse set of backgrounds and credentials to their positions. Increasingly, an undergraduate degree is sought by employers for the more desirable employment situations in most areas in the field. This has led to a growing number of practitioners in line supervision and management positions investing in professional education to complete this BA degree. The breadth of the child and youth care field requires a primary curriculum focus on generic development and social competence as a context for therapeutic intervention. The degree is awarded following successful completion of a minimum of 120 recognized credits. You may enter the program upon completion of related certificate and diploma programs, or one full year of university-level courses, providing they meet the program requirements. The 200-level CYC courses may be taken by students prior to acceptance into the degree program with permission of the department head if seats are available. The program of study includes core and elective courses.

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