General

In 2010, the ministers of Justice and Youth and Family appointed the Samson committee to inquire into sexual abuse of children who were placed out-of-home between 1945 and 2010 and grew up as the responsibility of the Dutch government. This was the origin of our project on historical abuse of children in foster families, as the committee funded a project on sexual abuse of children living in foster families between 1945 and 2010. Aim of this project was to understand the underlying dynamics of sexual abuse in foster families and study risk/protective factors. We did not estimate prevalence or incidence rates.

By the end of 2010, we reported to the committee and started writing articles and give presentations.

We connected to the International Network on Studies of Inquiries into Child Abuse, Politics of Apology and Historical Representations of Children in Out-of home Care ( www.tema.liu.se/tema-b ) and prepare an European grant. We no longer focus only on sexual abuse, but include all forms of maltreatment of children in foster families. In the Summer of 2017, a new project will be started on (physical, emotional, sexual) violence towards foster children in the Netherlands between 1945 and 2017.

Researcher

• Hans Grietens
  h.grietens@rug.nl