Dr. Kiaras Gharabaghi started his career in Child & Youth Care in the mid-1980s, working as a frontline practitioner in group homes and residential treatment settings for young people involved with child welfare, youth justice and child and youth mental health services. He also worked with young people facing adversities in schools, hospitals, and in the community, and for a number of years during the 1990s, he worked as a case coordinator and clinical specialist with families. Over the years, Kiaras held numerous supervisory positions, management positions and executive leadership positions in child welfare, child & youth mental health and in youth homelessness. He has been involved in major system reform initiatives in several Canadian provinces, and he has been actively engaged in child and youth service communities in Germany, Austria and Ireland. For the past twelve years, Kiaras has been a faculty member in the School of Child & Youth Care at Ryerson University and for the past six years, he has been that School’s Director. He was instrumental in the development of the Child & Youth Care Masters program at Ryerson University, only the second one in Canada, and is currently leading the process of developing a Child & Youth Care PhD program.

 

Kiaras has published over 200 articles, columns, editorials and chapters on issues and themes of Child & Youth Care Practice. He is the sole author of five books, co-author of one, and co-editor of four additional books. Two more books are currently in press: A Hard Place to Call Home, which provides a unique perspective on residential care and treatment, and Child & Youth Care Across Sectors, co-edited with Dr. Grant Charles, which covers many different contexts in which child and youth care practitioners are active in Canada. He also is co-author of several professional reports in the field, most recently Because Young People Matter, representing a government-initiated review of all residential services for children and youth in Ontario.

 

For the past ten years, Kiaras has contributed a monthly column to CYC Online, the e-journal published by the International Child & Youth Care Network. These columns tackle anything from direct care practice issues, to system problems, to celebrations of the power of love, care and engagement. Also for the past ten years, Kiaras has been the co-editor with Dr. Ben Anderson-Nathe, of Child & Youth Services, an international peer reviewed journal covering issues and themes related to child and youth service provision globally.

 

Kiaras has delivered keynote speeches to child welfare organizations, child & youth mental health associations, youth justice service providers, government groups, professional associations and academic conferences and symposia in Canada, the United States, across Europe, and in South Africa. He frequently consults with service providers on a wide range of issues related to organizational change, practice approaches, child and youth rights, and relational practices. More recently, Kiaras has been very active in the area of social innovation, and he is currently working to develop an international partnership and project with academic institutions and community service organizations in New York City that he hopes to scale up to cover massive urban communities across all the continents.

 

But aside from these activities, Kiaras continues to believe that being present with young people, making moments meaningful, and working in the life-space of children, families and communities is much more than an intervention; it is a way of being in the world that promotes democracy, caring for one another, and true love in our hearts and souls.   

 

It’s a Wonderful World (of CYC)  http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/oct2017.pdf#page=5

Promoting Autonomy in Child and Youth Care Practice 

http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/dec2017.pdf#page=6