Advanced College Diploma - Child and Youth Care

The Child and Youth Care advanced diploma is a three-year program training practitioners to work therapeutically with children and adolescents in crisis.

Coursework covers child and adolescent development, attachment theory and trauma-informed practice, mental health and behavioural challenges in young people, therapeutic relationship building and milieu therapy, group facilitation, crisis prevention and physical intervention certification, family systems and engagement, child welfare and youth justice legislation, anti-oppressive practice, activity-based and expressive interventions, and professional self-care. Extended field placements run across all three years in residential, school and community settings.

The relational method is what distinguishes child and youth care from adjacent social service fields: practitioners work in the young person’s daily living environment rather than in scheduled sessions, using everyday moments therapeutically. It is demanding work with high turnover and consistent hiring.

Field placement requires a police vulnerable sector check and, in most settings, immunisation records and CPR certification. Students who cannot clear these cannot be placed, so arrange them early.

The work placement is a graded part of the program, so you finish with documented Canadian experience and a referee rather than only a transcript.

Humber Polytechnic — formerly Humber College — is Ontario’s largest public college and a Designated Learning Institution (DLI O19376943122). The Lakeshore campus sits on the shore of Lake Ontario in south Etobicoke, next to Colonel Samuel Smith Park, and is home to Humber’s business degrees, media and creative arts, and social and community services programs. Heritage buildings, a residence opened in 2024 and a free shuttle to the North campus make it the most distinctive of Humber’s sites.

Its field maps to CIP 19.0708 (Child care and support services management). Important: this is a college credential rather than a degree, so it is not exempt from the November 2024 PGWP field-of-study restriction — eligibility depends on this CIP field appearing on IRCC’s eligible list when you apply. Humber publishes a PGWP-eligible program list with CIP codes; check it, and confirm with an Apply Study Visa counsellor before committing. IRCC makes the final decision.