With the knowledge, tools and practical experience you will have obtained as a graduate of the master’s specialisation Parenting and Child Development, you will be able to effectively contribute to promoting optimal caregiving and child development.

It is not possible for juvenile courts to properly assess whether it is necessary to place a child in care. This is evident from a fact sheet that has been prepared by legal scholars from Leiden University, commissioned by the Dutch House of Representatives and others.

Workshop brings multidisciplinary experts together to debate proposed detection technologies and their impact on fundamental rights.

Stephanie Rap and Yannick van den Brink, both assistant professor at the Department of Child Law, presented their research at the 11th EU Forum on the rights of the child: Children deprived of their liberty and alternatives to detention, which took place in Brussels from 6 to 8 November 2017.

Onderzoekers van het Instituut Pedagogische Wetenschappen en de afdeling Jeugdrecht gaan samenwerken in 2 nieuwe onderzoeken: onderzoek naar het terugplaatsingen van kinderen na uithuisplaatsing en draagmoederschappen in Nederland.

In Europe, the Netherlands is in middle position when it comes to the placement of children in care. The consequences of such a placement in care are often disastrous, says Mariëlle Bruning.

Children aged between 12 and 17 years can decide themselves whether they want to be vaccinated or not. Experts say that children are capable of taking a well-considered decision.

Dr. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga from eLaw collaborates with researchers from the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIIT-Delhi) and University of Delhi (DU) in an effort to explore and reflect upon the potential legal, ethical and pedagogical challenges of deploying a social robot in…

Professor Johan Frijns treats people with hearing loss, conducts research on hearing implants, and gladly shares his knowledge about electrical stimulation of the nervous system.

From 11 to 17 September, Leiden will be all about art and science. What can the combination of these two domains do for us? And how can cooperation between them be strengthened? Several public events and a brand new symposium for specialists should answer these questions.

The symposium is organised by the Department of Child Law at Leiden Law School, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The legal protection of parents and children in cases involving placement in care must improve. That is the opinion of Mariëlle Bruning, Professor of Children and the Law.

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

At the request of the Dutch Parliament, Professor Marielle Bruning, Dr Kartica van der Zon (Dept. of Child Law), Professor Lenneke Alink and Dr Sabine van der Asdonk (Education and Child Studies) have produced a fact sheet on the placement of children in care in the Netherlands.

Cette étude montre que le développement phonético-phonologique en fulfulde et bambara est à la foiscomparable au développement langagier dans d’autres langues du monde et influencé par les caractéristiques phonétiques et phonologiques de ces deux langues notamment au niveau de la phonotaxe.

Leiden University Proudly Announces Dr. Mikiko Otani as the Rotating Honorary Chair Enforcement of Children's Rights 2023/2024

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.

Houdt de rechtbank tijdens een echtscheiding wel voldoende rekening met de ervaringen van een kind? Onderzoek van Villa Pinedo toont aan dat kinderen vaak vrezen het verkeerde te zeggen tegen rechters. Hoogleraar jeugdrecht Mariëlle Bruning praatte erover met NRC.

A variety of age checks are required, both in order to protect children and to ensure that they can participate online, a new study funded by the European Commission finds. The article on the study, co-authored by Simone van der Hof, Professor of Law and Digital Technologies at eLaw, was published in…

On early October, the Master of Laws: Advanced Studies in International Children’s Rights released its October Newsletter to its friends and partner networks.

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…

Every year in the Netherlands, thousands of children are placed in out-of-home care because their parents are unable to look after them properly or because the children are at risk.

The Department of Child Law offers organisations consultancy expertise in the field of national and international child law and children's rights.

Do babies and toddlers thrive more in a noisy or quiet day care centre? Research by specialist in Education and Child Studies Claudia Werner shows that children feel most comfortable in an environment where there is a little noise. With this kind of research, the method of analysis is very important.…

Study information

How are you doing in these strange and unprecedented times? That is the question we are asking our colleagues in this series. Rosalinde Spitters, for instance, skills lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences.

A new almost free childcare system may sound ideal, but it also comes with risks for parents. Psychologists from Leiden University and research firm D&B have concluded that the system can cause uncertainty and stress, particularly among vulnerable groups.

The programme of Parenting and Child Development consists of four substantive courses devoted to the following subjects:

The Department of Child Law focuses in its education on the legal position of the child in national and international law.

Why do some children confront social challenges with confidence, whereas others experience difficulties? What is the role of child temperament and child emotional dispositions? What is the role of parenting? This project aims to shed light on the mechanisms explaining shyness and confidence in response…

The Dutch child protection system

The Institute of Education and Child Studies is part of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Leiden University. The institute is governed by an Institute Board under the direction of a rotating chairman, i.e. the Scientific Director and an Director of Studies. The Institute Board is…

Mums posting photos and videos of their child on Instagram and TikTok and also earning loads of money doing so. Kidfluencers, momvloggers and familyvlogs are very popular, in the Netherlands too. But the lack of legislation regulating these activities means that these children are barely protected.…

Mariëlle Bruning, Professor of Children and the Law at Leiden University, responded in various media to the new draft agreement aimed at reducing work pressure of youth protectors.

Department of Child Law.

The Institute of Education and Child Studies is located in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences of Leiden University near Central Station.

Intimate Legal Interactions (ILI) is an interdisciplinary and international group of scholars who share an interest in laws governing intimate relationships – such as marriage and civil partnership, divorce, birth, death, parenthood, childcare, sexual/romantic relationships, and caring relationships…

Young transgender people are able to decide together with their parents on a reversible intervention with puberty blockers. These are the results of a study by LUMC Curium and Amsterdam UMC of 74 young people undergoing treatment. Ninety percent of the young people studied proved able to make an informed…

Can process-oriented dynamic testing be applied to everyday educational practice?

The Jaap Doek Children’s rights thesis award is an annual award for the best thesis in the field of Children’s Rights granted by Defence for Children and the Department of Child Law of the Leiden Law School. This year the thesis award will be presented for the fourth time.

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.

Leiden University social scientists have shown that customised intervention pays off. A new fundamental research-based approach in children who are in danger of going off the rails has delivered spectacular results.

Can dynamic testing provide us with insight in children’s potential for learning?

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.