Behavioural Scientific Research

The scientific research in the context of behavioural sciences will focus on the following themes during the coming years:

The development of a scientifically based research methodology as to how the interests of children can best be introduced in asylum and immigration related decision-making procedures.
The focus is on the development and description of a research method that can determine which decision serves the interest of the child best in the legal procedures. The starting point is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states, among others, that every decision should have the interest of the child as its main consideration (art. 3) and that children have a right to development (art. 6). To this end we have developed a method based on the Best Interest of the Child - model (BIC-model). A key element of this study is to examine the validity of the instruments that have been developed in this context.

Research into the quality of the rearing environment and the development of refugee or migrant children in the Netherlands.
This study focuses on the rearing environment and the development of children who are involved in immigration proceedings. The type of problems these children face, and the factors that relate to this are both subject of study.

Minor refugees in the first phase of the decision-making process .
This research project focuses on the development of a scientifically based method to be able to decide as early as possible how the interests of minor refugees can be best considered when all involved interests are balanced during decision-making in asylum procedures.

Children who have returned to their countries of origin (Kosovo and Albania).
This research project focuses on the rearing environment and the social and emotional development of children who returned to their country of origin (or the country of their parents’origin). In the context of this research we have interviewed 150 children and their parents, who returned to Kosovo and Albania after a stay in one of the EU-member states.

Unaccompanied refugee minors and the reception in (cultural) foster families.
This research project focuses on the factors contributing to the success of the foster placement of unaccompanied refugee minors in (cultural) foster families. Also, the role of cultural similarity between the unaccompanied refugee minor and its foster family and how this is related to the success of the placement, will be researched.

Other behavioural scientific research.
Other behavioural scientific research themes include specific issues of refugee and migrant children in relation to their upbringing. With regard to the various asyl um and immigration procedures, we examine how the BIC methodology should be adjusted for refugee and migrant children staying in the Netherlands less than one year.

Feasilibility study experiences with violence of unaccompanied refugee minors.

On behalf of the Commissie Geweld in de Jeugdzorg (Committee on Violence in Youth Care) the research centre has conducted a feasibility study on the experiences with violence of unaccompanied refugee minors who were/are under guardianship. The research is about the period from 1990 until present (2017). The researchers investigated if, and which, information is available about the physical and psychological violence to unaccompanied refugee minors that occurred in the institutions while the minors resided there.