Children’s Rights in Secure Residential Youth Care in the Netherlands

This study examines the extent to which secure residential youth care in the Netherlands complies with children’s rights as laid down in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (uncrc) and the Dutch Youth Act. Residential group climate was measured with the Prison Group Climate Instrument (pgci), which assesses quality of group care from the perspective of the three basic needs for human self-determination: contact, autonomy and competence. Results indicate that children’s rights are a subsidiary issue in secure residential youth care in The Netherlands, because groups workers and staff have insufficient understanding of children’s rights and Dutch legislation on youth care. Dutch law allows secure facilities to make their own policy on youth care delivery, but it seems that policies are insufficiently explicit about children’s rights. Results of this study can be used to work on the fulfilment of children’s rights in secure residential youth care.

Feeling Better: Experiences and Needs of Adolescents and Professionals Regarding Their Mentoring Relationship in Residential Youth Care

Background In residential youth care, group care workers and teachers often serve as a mentor for individual adolescents. Although favorable mentoring relationships are associated with positive adolescent outcomes, few studies examined the role of mentoring in residential youth care. Objective The present study aims to assess adolescents’, care workers’ and teachers’ mentoring relationship needs in terms of their one-on-one conversations during residential care. Methods We conducted structured interviews with eleven adolescents, ten group care workers and two teachers and content analysis to assess the data Results All respondents are rather satisfied with their conversations, which are often concerned with how the adolescent is doing. Adolescents mostly consider their family and home-situation as difficult topics, while care workers mostly consider sexuality as a difficult topic to talk about. Although ‘improvement’ with the youth is often the aim, most adolescents report that they do not (know if they) show changes because of these conversations. Moreover, only one of the twelve professionals thinks that it is his core task to achieve behavior change with the adolescents. According to the professionals, conversations often aim at building a good relationship, coaching, determining treatment goals, and gaining insight into the adolescent. Adolescents prefer a mentor who is calm, has respect, listens, and is reluctant in giving advice. Most professionals do not use a specific method and doubt whether they want to have conversations according to a manual or support tool. Conclusions Despite being rather satisfied, adolescents and professionals indicate several points for improvement of one-on-one conversations.

Differences between adolescents in secure residential care and non-residential educational facilities

Summary In this cross-sectional study, we examined differences between 351 adolescents allocated to secure residential youth care and the non-residential alternative educational facility School2Care (12–18 years old, 63% boys). Data were collected by means of the official school registration system and standardized questionnaires. Findings Results showed that adolescents in both settings had severe problems. Emergency situations, problems in daily functioning in all life domains, and previous out-of-home placements were found to be associated with allocation to secure residential youth care instead of non-residential alternative education. These three factors may be considered risk factors for secure residential placement of adolescents with complex needs. Applications This study provides input for the prevention of secure residential youth care, because the two dynamic (changeable) risk factors for residential out-of-home placement (i.e., emergency situations and adolescent’s daily life functioning) should be considered as intervention targets in non-residential care, while static factors (i.e., history of out-of-home placement) can be used to improve risk assessment of residential out-of-home placement, with higher risk requiring more intensive treatment according to the risk-need-responsivity model for effective mandated treatment.

Perceived social support and quality of life among adolescents in residential youth care: a cross-sectional study

Background Residential youth care (RYC) institutions aim to provide care and stability for vulnerable adolescents with several previous and present challenges, such as disrupted attachments, wide-ranging adverse childhood experiences, mental health problems, and poor quality of life (QoL). To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to provide knowledge of the associations between perceived social support and QoL and to explore the potential moderating effect of perceived social support on QoL for adolescents who have experienced maltreatment and polyvictimization. Methods All RYC institutions with adolescents between the ages 12–23 in Norway were asked to participate in the study. A total of 86 institutions housing 601 adolescents accepted the invitation, from which 400 adolescents volunteered to participate. The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Interview was used to gather information on maltreatment histories and degree of victimization; the Kinder Lebensqualität Fragebogen was used to measure QoL through several domains (overall QoL, physical well-being, emotional well-being, and self-esteem); and the Social Support Questionnaire was used to measure perceived social support. Linear regression and independent samples t-test were used to study the associations between perceived social support and QoL as well as the potential moderating effect of perceived social support in the association between maltreatment history and QoL. Results Perceived social support was positively associated with QoL for both girls and boys, with domain-specific findings. A higher number of different types of support persons was associated with overall QoL, emotional well-being, and self-esteem for boys, but only with self-esteem for girls. Individual social support from RYC staff and friends was associated with higher QoL for girls. However, perceived social support did not moderate the association between maltreatment history and reduced QoL for either sex. Conclusions This study emphasizes the importance of maintaining social support networks for adolescents living in RYC, the crucial contribution of RYC staff in facilitating social support, and the potential value of social skills training for these vulnerable adolescents. Furthermore, a wider range of initiatives beyond social support must be carried out to increase QoL among adolescents with major maltreatment and polyvictimization experiences.