What Do We Mean by Ethics?

Ethics are the principles of conduct governing an individual or group. As the University of Kansas Center for Community Health and Development (n.d.) puts it, ethics means:

• doing no harm,
• considering and treating everyone as unique individuals who matter,
• respecting a person’s ability to play a part in what they need,
• respecting everyone’s human, civil and legal rights,
• doing what is best for everyone, and
• not abusing your position. (para. 3)

To gain some additional insight into what ethics are, and what they look like in practice, watch “What is Ethics?” by The Ethics Centre (2020). Make sure that you are able to answer the questions below after you finish watching the video.

To access a transcript for this video, please click Watch on YouTube. 

Practicing Ethics in CYC

The OACYC (2017) Code of Ethics is a set of standards for professional practice and guides Child and Youth Care professionals to make good decisions in their work. CYCs have the responsibility to strive for high standards of professional conduct, and the CYC code of ethics supports them in doing so. As identified in the previous section, professional ethics is a critical component to professional CYC competency. The CYCCB (2010) Standards of Practice in North American Child and Youth Care Professionals identifies that all CYCs must ensure responsibility for self; responsibility to children, youth, and families; responsibility to the employer and/or employing organization; responsibility to the profession; and responsibility to the community.

According to Ricks (1994), “because our personal/professional values are nested in and draw heavily on cultural values, we remain oblivious and unaware of how present our values really are and the extent to which they affect our child and youth care practice” (para. 2). It is imperative that CYCs regularly reflect on their personal and professional values and beliefs, and that they understand there may be potential dilemmas they face if working with someone of different beliefs. When facing these dilemmas, Ricks advises the following:

The first step for child and youth care workers . . . is to become aware of the contradictions between what is and what they think should be. The second step is to figure out what accounts for the difference. The differences might be that the rules are not known, or that the rules are known and not being followed. Alternately, the difference might be the rules are different and the rules are different because the beliefs and values are different. (para. 8)

Once you are more aware of these differences and how they might impact your work as a CYC, the next step is to familiarize yourself with the Standards for Practice of North American Child & Youth Care Professionals.  The code does not provide simple answers to the complex dilemmas that we might face when working with children, youth, and families. It does, however, provide a framework for professional CYCs to look at a variety of possibilities to complex dilemmas, and it gives teams an opportunity to provide input from diverse viewpoints while determining the best approach (Winfield, 2003). This code of ethics is intended to be used in combination with sound professional judgement and consultation to find a course of action that is consistent with the spirit and intent of its principles.

Click on the following items to get an overview of each of the areas of the Child and Youth Care Professional code of ethics: