Child protection careers: Reconstructing organizational development, abuse experiences, diagnostic procedures, interventions and life-trajectories in a city in West Germany 1985-2014

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Child protection is a highly relevant topic for children and youth welfare services. Nevertheless, there is a lack of empirical studies on organizational developments in the child protection field in Germany as well as on the careers of children who have been subject to child protection interventions. It is important to learn about such child protection careers because the short-term intention of child protection interventions is to prevent significant harm that might be done to a child but some of the instruments may have long-term biographical consequences (e.g. loss of custody, out-of-home placement). Lack of knowledge on long-term consequences of child protection measures on the lives and perspectives of young people in Germany is even more surprising as there have been recurring doubts on the efficacy of the child protection system. A historical reconstruction of the organizational field is informative too because for some time there have been a lot of reforms within the child protection system (e.g. federal programs and local initiatives).The cooperation project Kinderschutzkarrieren will reconstruct the way child protection has been organized as well as case trajectories and outcomes in a west German city (Düsseldorf) between 1985 and 2015. The cooperation partners can access about 6.000 case files and a large number of documents regarding the organizational field of child protection in this city. Files and documents will be accessed via the medical child protection outpatient clinic of the Protestant Hospital in Düsseldorf (KSA) and the children and youth welfare office of the city of Düsseldorf. These data will be supplemented by interviews with former child protection clients and experts. There are three key activities within the research project with the three collaborating scientific institutes complementing each other in their research focus and methodological competence: (1) Reconstruction of the way child protection has been organized in this city in the observation period (evolution of concepts, problem constructions, work processes, interventions and inter-agency, multi-professional collaborations: University of Hildesheim), (2) file-based analysis of case histories (maltreatment episodes, diagnosis, protective and support measures, reported case trajectories: German Youth Institute and University of Koblenz-Landau), (3) biographical narratives and well-being as perceived by young adults who have been subject to child protective investigations during childhood (German Youth Institute and University of Koblenz-Landau). For the first time in Germany it will be possible to describe how children and adolescents develop after a child protection intervention. Results will be discussed with international experts, published in international journals and prepared for professional audiences in Germany.