General

The Foster Care Research Centre Groningen studies decision-making processes in the foster care system, experiences of children placed in a foster family, interventions for foster children and their carers, and short-/long-term outcomes of foster placement.

We aim to inform foster carers, professionals, agencies and policy makers about what are best (‘evidence-based’ or ‘knowledge-based’) approaches to assisting this vulnerable group. Currently, we conduct projects on matching processes in foster care, psychosocial needs of foster youth, parenting foster children with complex trauma and histories of sexual abuse previous to placement, reunification of young foster children with their birth parents and historic abuse of children in the foster care system. We have a special interest in studying voices of foster children and their views on placement decisions and care.

The Foster Care Research Centre is part of the Special Needs Education & Youth Care Unit at the University of Groningen.

On this webpage you can find information about our research team, the current projects and the completed projects.