The Child and Youth Care Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (CYCANL) was first formed in 1990
in Moncton, New Brunswick after the 7th National Child and Youth Care Conference. The Association
became inactive in 1992 and was revived again in 1994 after the Council of Canadian Child and Youth
Care Associations requested a representative from Newfoundland and Labrador at the annual Council
meeting during the 9th National Child and Youth Care Conference in Edmonton, Alberta.
In 2002, with only a handful of active members, the CYCANL hosted the 12 th National Child and Youth
Care Conference in St. John’s. The planning of this event attracted many new members and significantly
strengthened the Association. At the time of the conference, the CYCANL was publicly advocating for the
creation of a post-secondary program in Child and Youth Care and as a result of these advocacy efforts
the first child and youth care diploma program in NL was established in 2003.
Following the conference, a working committee structure was implemented within the Association.
Committees included Finance, Membership, Newsletter, Public Relations/Fundraising,
Training/Education, Social and Standards. For many years, much of the work of the CYCANL was
conducted through these committees. A quarterly newsletter, ABEONA, was published consistently from
2003-2009 and since then information has been made available to members on the website.
The CYCANL has hosted a Provincial Child and Youth Care Conference every year since 2003. Keynote
speakers have included Dr. Thom Garfat, Dr. Michael Ungar, Charlie Appelstein, Dr. Lorraine Fox, Dr.
Larry Brendtro, Dr. John Digny & Maxwell Smart, and other notable child and youth care leaders. In
addition to the annual conferences, the CYCANL offers regular training sessions on topics relevant to
members.
Since 2003, the CYCANL has provided leadership in the child and youth care field nationally and
internationally, through representation on the executive of the Council of Canadian Child and Youth
Care Associations and affiliation with other organizations including the Child and Youth Care
Certification Board and Child and Youth Care Educational Accreditation Board of Canada. On four
occasions, Child and Youth Care practitioners from NL have received the National Child and Youth Care
Award – they are Lori Leonard (2002), Jenny McGrath (2006), Natalie Bursey (2012) and Jaime Lundrigan
(2018).
In 2013 the CYCANL co-hosted, along with the International Child and Youth Care Network (CYC-Net),
the first Child and Youth Care World Conference. The CYCANL was slated to host the National Child and
Youth Care Conference in 2020 but this was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be
rescheduled!
Past-presidents of the CYCANL since 2002 include Heather Modlin, Dave Walsh, Lori Leonard, Hugo
McCarthy, Tina Neary & Jaime Lundrigan.