Work alongside kids and teens in group homes, schools and hospitals who have been through trauma. A college diploma, and the job starts on day one of placement.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$54,000
Group home, new grad
$40,000
School board or hospital, senior
$75,000
Job Bank's national median is $26 an hour, about $54,000 a year full time, with a spread of $19 to $36 an hour. Job Bank pools child and youth workers with other social and community service workers, so this is a broad estimate. Alberta's own survey puts the average at about $25.50 an hour.
$19 to $23 an hour
About $40,000 to $48,000 a year full time
Group homes and youth shelters pay the least and hire the most. Many first jobs are part-time or relief shifts, so it can take a year or two to land full-time hours.
$32 to $36 an hour
School boards, hospitals and youth justice, around $66,000 to $75,000
Unionized school board and hospital jobs sit at the top. Team leads and program supervisors can go a little higher, especially with a degree.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is the police check, first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation training and crisis intervention training that group homes and shelters ask for, then getting hired on relief shifts and learning the work on the job. That is a real paid route in. The high end is a four year university degree plus those same clearances and the voluntary certification exam. The cheap door is harder and it has a ceiling: school boards, hospitals and supervisor jobs want the three year college diploma, so without it you can sit in front line residential work for years with no way up.
Placements are unpaid and take up a big share of the final year. Many students work relief shifts at a group home to get paid while they train.
Pension and benefits in the public sector
School boards, hospitals and youth justice facilities are unionized with a defined-benefit pension.
Shift premiums
Group homes run 24 hours. Overnights, weekends and holidays pay extra.
Overtime
Chronic short-staffing means overtime is usually available if you want it.
Ten-month schedules
School board jobs follow the school year, with summers off.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A college diploma is the standard route. A degree helps for hospital, school and supervisor jobs.
High school
Grade 12
Grade 12 English is the usual requirement. Volunteer with kids: camps, coaching, tutoring, youth drop-ins.
College diploma
2 to 3 years
In Ontario the Child and Youth Care program is a 3-year advanced diploma. Other provinces run 2-year diplomas. Expect courses in child development, trauma, counselling and crisis intervention.
Field placements
Built into the program
Two or three unpaid placements in group homes, schools or hospitals. This is where most people get their first job offer.
Degree, if you want it
2 more years
Diploma grads can bridge into year three of the 4-year Child and Youth Care degree at TMU (Toronto Metropolitan University) or similar programs in other provinces.
Voluntary certification
After a few years of work
Register with your provincial association, such as the OACYC (Ontario Association of Child and Youth Care), or certify through the CYCCB (Child and Youth Care Certification Board), which needs a portfolio and a test.
English
You write daily logs and incident reports.
Psychology, sociology or family studies
The theory of the job.
Physical education or coaching
A lot of the work is activity based.
Drama, music or art
Programs for kids need someone who can run them.
No province licenses child and youth workers, and anyone can use the title. Employers set their own bar, and most want the diploma plus a clean vulnerable sector police check. The OACYC (Ontario Association of Child and Youth Care) runs voluntary registration and has been lobbying for regulation. Alberta has a similar voluntary certification through its provincial association.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Crisis intervention and de-escalation
Courses such as nonviolent crisis intervention or therapeutic crisis intervention. Most employers require one.
Autism and developmental disability training
Applied behaviour analysis basics make you hireable in more settings.
Degree in child and youth care or social work
Needed for most hospital, supervisor and clinical roles.
Youth justice
Provincial youth custody facilities pay well and train on the job.
A driver's licence
Group homes drive kids to school, appointments and court.
A second language
Especially in big cities and in Indigenous communities.
Camp or coaching experience
Proof you can run a room of kids.
Mental health first aid
Short course, widely recognized.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
In a group home: wake the kids, breakfast, get everyone to school. Afternoon meetings with social workers and teachers, then homework, dinner, chores, a house activity, bedtime. Somewhere in there a fight, a runaway or a meltdown that you have to de-escalate, then write up. In a school you are attached to a classroom or a behaviour program, helping kids who cannot get through the day without support.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Ontario's Child and Youth Care program is a 3-year advanced diploma, while most provinces run 2-year diplomas. The extra year is mostly placement, which is why Ontario grads can bridge straight into the third year of a university degree.
Child and youth care is not just about kids. TMU (Toronto Metropolitan University) describes its degree as serving young people aged 4 to 29, and many practitioners work with young adults leaving foster care, shelters and justice systems.
Most child and youth workers get their first job from a placement agency. Group homes are chronically short of staff, so a student who shows up reliable for a semester often walks out with an offer.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.