There are multiple organizations striving to professionalize child and youth care (CYC) across North America. Two voices that appear to have been excluded from this dialogue are the young people CYCs work with and those who come to work in the field outside of formal training. This article asks who defines CYC practice, what the implications are of the narrowing CYC definition, and who and what may be excluded in this contraction. The author looks at various definitions of CYC practice from around the world, discusses the lack of data about young people's perceptions of professionalization, and interviews practitioners who have chosen to work with street involved and marginalized youth. The practitioners discuss what they learned about working with young people through their arts practice and their perceptions of the credentialing movement.