This Bachelor of Arts in Child and Youth Care provides a degree opportunity for students working towards a range of human service disciplines. The CYC program is a four-year, 120-credit program for working professionals, with core course offerings scheduled for afternoons and evenings. The program of study includes elective courses along with possible specializations. Students without a background in the human services field may apply to the program. Most child and youth care practitioners are balancing agency, family, personal, and professional needs as they pursue education in an increasingly demanding and complex field. Child and youth care is an expanding field. It crosses a wide range of work settings and areas of practice, including regular and alternative school programs, child protection and guardianship work in the provincial government, family support, child life/hospital-based programs, residential/group home programs, youth justice/probation programs, special needs foster care, parent/counsellor resources, mental health, early intervention and child development centres, and related community agencies. The breadth of the child and youth care field requires a primary curriculum focus on development and social competence for therapeutic intervention through relationships.