In this study the central question to be answered is whether children are able to participate in decisions and at which moments these decisions are taken in the youth care trajectory.

The Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies research group conducts innovative high-quality research aiming to gain knowledge about deviant developmental trajectories of vulnerable children, adolescents, and families, about how to prevent problematic development and how to intervene when necessary.

Biological and behavioural measurements of parent-child interactions.

The program group Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies of the Institute of Education and Child Studies deals with the developmental processes of vulnerable children, young people and families.

The program group Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies is located in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences of Leiden University near Central Station.

Within the bachelor's program of Education and Child Studies, we include the minor Kindermishandeling en Verwaarlozing: een levensloopperspectief and several other courses.

Which educational and child welfare interventions offer optimal opportunities for positive development to children with severe behavioral and emotional disorders.

The research project addresses the question how complaints in the voluntary youth care system are dealt with on the municipal level and what role (municipal) Children’s Ombudspersons play in this context, through qualitative research methods.

Policy plans state that children should be placed in secure youth care less often and for shorter periods. But this is problematic in practice.

How many children are waiting for help from youth services in the Netherlands at any given time? And exactly how long do they have to wait?

This research evaluates the Youth Act. It will provide an overview of how the transition takes place, whether the transformation process develops in the right direction and whether the legal safeguards are functioning properly.

GroenLinks member of the Dutch House of Representatives Lisa Westerveld has put forward parliamentary questions in response to the dissertation by Maria de Jong-de Kruif, who was awarded a doctorate degree on 7 March 2019 following her research on secure youth care institutions.

The waiting lists in youth care are alarmingly long. This has been confirmed again by a study carried out by a Dutch foundation The Forgotten Child.

A significant percentage of children who have spent a period in youth care institutions or foster homes since 1945 received inadequate protection from physical, psychological and sexual violence. Interventions by supervisory authorities in cases involving violence were inadequate.

Practice and science show that secure residential youth care in the Netherlands should no longer be used as a catch-all solution. This is the conclusion of several professionals including Professor of Child Law Mariëlle Bruning in Dutch newspaper NRC.

Dr. Stephanie Rap, Denise Verkroost, LL.M. and prof. Mariëlle Bruning conducted a research on the participation of children in youth care in the Netherlands. In 2016 the first part, a legal desk-research on the possibilities for children to participate in youth care procedures and decision-making in…

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As of 1 February prof. Mariëlle Bruning, dr. Stephanie Rap and Denise Verkroost LL.M. will start the second part of the research project concerning the participation of children in youth care.

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‘Equal opportunities for diverse young people’ receives a Starting Incentive of the Natonal Science Agenda of 2,5 million euros. In this project research is conducted on the processes and mechanisms in the changing environments in which young people grow up that contribute to equal - or unequal - opportunities.…

On young Muslims seeking to understand their place and make their way in a transformed world.

How can we broaden youth participation in STEM Learning

Policy studies and interventions in the field of Youth

On 1 January 2021, a major youth care centre in the Dutch province Zeeland will close its doors. It is responsible for implementing child protection measures. As a result, it is likely that the care for around 1100 children will come under threat. Vulnerable children will face changes to the authorities…

Policy studies and interventions in the field of Youth

An interdisciplinary collection of the best international scholarship on Muslim youth.

Together with Knud Andresen, Bart van der Steen recently published a volume titled A European Youth Revolt. European Perspectives on Youth Protest and Social Movements in the 1980s.

Many parents whose children have been placed in care do not understand the basis on which the decision was taken. Dutch youth protection organisations and the Child Protection Council must better document why they request such a measure from the Juvenile Court.

From basic science to real-world interventions

Do general practitioners recognize children with or at risk of problematic anxiety and is there a pattern that might help differentiate those with and without anxiety disorders in general practice?

What are the developmental pathways to social anxiety (disorder), the causal processes and maintaining factors? How do these factors interact in the development of social anxiety disorder? How can this knowledge be used to design and implement effective preventive intervention programs for youth?

Welcome to the Social Anxiety and Specific Phobia (SASP) Research Group!

In recent years, and especially since the ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011, a growing body of research, media reporting, and scholarly literature has focused on the role of ‘Arab youth’ as the drivers of social and political movements across the Middle East and North Africa.

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The Dutch cabinet will allocate a total of 40 million euros extra for institutions providing youth protection and youth rehabilitation over the next four years. Local councils must make the same amount available. Will that be enough to solve the problems?

On 2 and 3 October 2017, a delegation of the Child Law Department has participated in the 15th European regional conference of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect in The Hague.

Can positive peer feedback break the cycle of negative self-relevant cognitive processes and reduce self-reported anxiety in early adolescents?

In this article, Samuels elaborates the concept of narrative navigation to analyze the subjective and intersubjective ways in which people struggle through experiences of illness by constructing multiple, ambiguous and non-linear narratives that may continuously change, as they reposition themselves…

The introduction of market forces in the field of youth protection has failed. This is clearly demonstrated by the unrest and problems surrounding the dismantling and splitting up of youth care organisation Intervence in Zeeland, says Professor of Child Law Mariëlle Bruning.

The programme group Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies is one of the six programme groups within the department of Child and Education Studies at Leiden University.

Does the public speaking anxiety that many youngsters experience originates from specific characteristics in their earlier development?

Maria de Jong-de Kruijf was awarded a doctorate degree on 7 March for her research on children in secure residential youth care. The Dutch website for legal professionals, Mr. Online, interviewed her for their ‘lawyer of the week’ column.

Several studies into the prevalence of child abuse in the Netherlands were conducted on behalf of the Ministries of Security and Justice and of Health, Welfare and Sport, the Samson Committee and the WODC.

In the Dutch healthcare system, only MHC psychologists (GZ-psychologen) are licensed to practice psychology unsupervised.

In the programme group Parenting, Child Care and Development we examine in what way parents (mothers and fathers) and allo-parents (e.g., professional caregivers) influence children’s development, wellbeing and health. The main focus is on children’s social-emotional development and the prevention of…

How can mentors and social workers foster the vocational identity of at-risk youth and improve their prospects?