Developing professional ethics for child and youth care work: Assuming responsibility for the quality of care

Child and youth care in North America is actively engaged in a process of doing ethics. This paper presents the context for this current ethics work, gives a brief history of ethics in the culture as it impacts on helping professions, and describes the function of professional ethics. The ethics work of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the Child Life Council (CLC), and organized child and youth care in North America are detailed. The plan of action includes the process that has led to the completed draft of the Code of Ethics of North American Child and Youth Care Professionals, an outline for a process of doing ethics, and the formulation of research questions to enhance the understanding of ethics in practice.An earlier version of this paper was presented in May 1992 at the 39th International Congress of the International Federation of Educative Communities (FICE) in Luxembourg.