Chapter 6: Now Is the Time: A Toxic Era for Child and Youth Care.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a very personal series of reflections on the current debate on risk and accountability in child protection and child and youth care as the former strives to come out of a period of volunteerism and professionalize itself (McElwee, 1998; Share & McElwee, 2005). Irish culture has grown more individualist as has the work environment. An on-going theme is that of accountability, which has emerged in child and youth care throughout the Western world (Causon, 1997; Kendrick, 1997). Whether it be accountability in terms of fiscal management, specific populations served (Charles, 2001 ; Maier, 2001), treatment outcomes (Waterhouse, 2000), or even accountability in terms of direct practice actions (Garfat & McElwee, 2004; Parton et al., 1997), the "age of accountability" or "risk society" has certainly descended upon us. The relationship between the risk culture, actual cases of malpractice, the scapegoating Culture, the collective sense of non-responsibility, and media sensationalism is becoming more dominant and complex (Fewster, 2002; Mitchell, 1999). In the middle of it all are the families in distress and youth at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]