Recently, the so-called refugee crisis has been framed as a threat for well-developed welfare states in Europe by the president of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem. According to him, external borders have to be guarded, because otherwise ‘loads of people will come to demand support and they blow up…

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

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…

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.…

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.

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…

Should the law and norms applicable to armed conflict include a distinct category covering the transition from armed conflict to peace, jus post bellum, and if so what are its characteristics?

The Dutch child protection system

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.

Exchanges between different cultures and institutions of learning have taken place for centuries, but it was only in the twentieth century that such efforts evolved into formal programs that received focused attention from nation-states, empires and international organizations.

Policy plans state that children should be placed in secure youth care less often and for shorter periods. But this is problematic in practice.

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

On 20 February 2018, Simone van der Hof will give a lecture on the use of AI in combating online sexual abuse of children at the Academy of European Law (ERA) in Trier during the seminar The Life Cycle or Electronic Evidence - Handling E-Evidence in Child Sex Abuse Material.

On the 24th of March, Prof. Ton Liefaard gave a lecture at the Girne American University entitled ‘International Children’s Rights: Achievements and Challenges’.

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

Within the bachelor's program of Education and Child Studies, we include the minor Kindermishandeling en Verwaarlozing: een levensloopperspectief and several other courses.

Department of Child Law.

The Child Law Department of Leiden University and Defence for Children kindly invites you to the fourth Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award Ceremony and the official launch of the book ‘The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Taking Stock after 25 Years and Looking Ahead’ (Brill…

Stephanie Rap and Chrisje Sandelowsky-Bosman have contributed as authors to the online training manual for lawyers, that is developed as part of the training programme Advancing the Defence Rights of Children.

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

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…

A pregnant woman from Drenthe will lose her baby directly after it is born. A juvenile court has already ruled during her pregnancy that the infant will go to a foster family. The court believes that the child would risk physical neglect.

From 25 to 31 October, Professor Simone van der Hof was on a working visit to China with a delegation from Leiden Law School, including our dean Professor Joanne van der Leun.

Children have the right to play and relax. Games, social media and video platforms are attractive new ways to do that. However, hardly any online games are designed specifically for children, nor do they factor in children's rights.

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?

Legal protection. What do those involved in youth care and child protection understand by this concept? And what needs to change to improve legal protection? This question was explored by researchers from Leiden University’s Department of Child Law. Their research fits with the government’s ambition…

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.

The Leiden Children's Rights Observatory is an open access online database of case commentaries, written by international experts on children’s rights, referring to the decisions of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on…

The programme group Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies is one of the six programme groups within the department of Child and Education Studies at Leiden University.

Jus post bellum, the body of laws and norms governing the transition from armed conflict to peace, has emerged as a crucial issue for international law scholars, governments, and all concerned with building a just and sustainable peace. The Jus Post Bellum Project, funded by the NWO and hosted by the…

The programme group Learning and Behaviour Problems in Education is one of the six programme groups within the department of Child and Education Studies at Leiden University.

The group Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences has expertise in individual differences in child development, in particular the development of psychopathology, ranging from mild to severe neurodevelopmental disorders.

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 neuropsychologists 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.

The master’s degree programme Education and Child Studies is an academic, not a vocational programme. It offers research-based knowledge about education and child development.

The Learning and Behavior Problems in Education program group is responsible for teaching in the area of learning problems.

Digital media are everywhere and are therefore a major part of our lives and the lives of our children. The new specialisation in Digital Media in Human Development focuses on the opportunities and challenges of digital media in child rearing and education.

The programma structure of the advanced master International Children's Rights of Leiden University can be found on this page.

Across cultures, parents help their children master the social and linguistic codes needed in adult life. Recent research on language socialization found important cross-cultural differences, pointing out the need for more diversity for a full understanding of this process. Deaf communities form…

The Dutch cabinet will allocate a total of 40 million euros extra for institutions providing youth protection and youth rehabilitation over the next four years. Local councils must make the same amount available. Will that be enough to solve the problems?

On November 23, 2017, Professor Simone van der Hof chaired a panel on age verification in the digital world at the Safer Internet Forum 2017 in Brussels.