Our Vision & Values
Our Vision & Values
Our vision
A ‘North Star’ of well-being: all children and youth in British Columbia are well-supported across health, education, and social systems to ensure that they are safe, connected and thriving and that their fundamental rights are upheld.
In all that we do, we believe that…
every child is a gift and every child has unique gifts.
every child deserves to be heard, to be loved and to belong to family, community and culture.
it is our collective responsibility as adults to ensure that young people can be safe, connected, and thriving.
This vision shifts us from a paradigm built on risk, surveillance and compliance to one grounded in safety, belonging, identity, love and opportunity.
– Dr. Jennifer Charlesworth,
Representative for Children and Youth
Our Values
Six key values guide the day-to-day work of the RCY both internally and externally. These values were developed through consultation with RCY staff, cultural advisors, knowledge keepers and through learning from young people and families about what they want to experience when they connect with the RCY.
These six values are touchstones that keep us focused, curious and humble.
Given the imperative to address the over-representation of Indigenous children in BC’s child welfare system, we also seek guidance and teachings from RCY’s Indigenous cultural advisors about how to understand and practice our values within an Indigenous worldview as well as how to conduct research embedding Indigenous research methodologies where appropriate. Read more about our approach in our Annual Report.
Relationship
Meaningful and respectful relationships are essential for RCY to both understand what is being called for and to advocate for changes that will improve the well-being and life outcomes of young people. Deep listening, learning, compassion and transparency are at the centre of all of our relationships.
Respect
Respect embraces a curiosity and openness to understanding rather than judgement and blame. We ensure those around s feel heard and valued.
Relevance
We must ensure that our work is relevant and meaningful to the needs and interests to the young people we are accountable to. At the same time, we must be aware of the large societal context of where the issues that come to us are situated.
Responsibility
Our focus will always be on young people and our responsibility to fulfill our legislative mandate. We are responsible for creating an engaged and inclusive workplace and creating a clear direction for our work.
Reciprocity
While we have expertise in a number of areas, there is much that we do not know and must learn in order to be effective. Reciprocity entails giving and receiving knowledge, skills, perspectives, stories, time and resources with those with whom we are in relationship.
Repair
Given the complex and evolving nature and context for our work, we will make mistakes and may inadvertently cause harm. However, we will endeavour to address and repair our mistakes, learn from them and restore the respectful relationships that we aspire to nurture.
Principles that Guide Our Work
The Office is also guided by four key principles that inform the RCY’s policies, practices and ways of being.
The nature of RCY’s work requires that we continually work towards being a culturally safer, anti-racist, trauma-aware and restorative organization, that is able to work skillfully within a complex, multi-system context.
Cultural Agility & Anti-Racism
Cultural agility requires that RCY continually broadens understanding about the histories and contemporary expressions of colonization on diverse cultural groups and strives to address power imbalances and create respectful relationships in which people feel seen, heard, safe and valued.
Anti-racism requires conscious and deliberate action to counter prejudice, discrimination, racism and oppression often directed towards specific racial and socio-economic groups. Given that many of the young people and families that RCY serves have experienced multiple forms of oppression we have a responsibility to continually learn and address oppression and advocate for equity and inclusion on both an individual and a systemic level.
Trauma-aware
A trauma-aware approach seeks to understand and be responsive to the impact of trauma, loss and grief on young people, families and communities.
Restorative Practices
Learning from the restorative justice movement, RCY aims to establish policies and practices and enhance staff awareness and skills to repair or restore connection and relationships.
Systems & Complexity Thinking
RCY has committed to using insights from the study of complex systems to deepen and increase the impact of our work.
Commitment Box
This beautiful bentwood cedar box, created by renowned Laxwaxdax’w artist Shawn Decaire. The box holds items contributed by RCY staff and cultural advisors that remind us of our promise to and the potential of all young people.
We invite you to make your own commitments to young people using our commitment card.
