The Working Group for Research on Residential Child and Youth Services was founded in 2020 as a cooperative association of researchers from HAW Hamburg, the Department of Social Work and the Department of Social Pedagogy at the University of Siegen. The working group is dedicated to the joint planning and implementation of research projects, the organization of symposia and conferences and the publication of scientific findings and professional and socio-political perspectives on the field of inpatient child and youth welfare.

Residential child and youth welfare is one of the core areas of child and youth welfare with a high level of intervention and intensive care. The current state of research shows that there are numerous conflicts, needs for reform and considerations in this field. The working group is dedicated to the current topics and (socio-politically determined) dynamics of the field. On the basis of scientific findings, the aim is to initiate developments that are in the interests of the children and young people concerned, as well as those working in the field. These topics currently include

• Research priorities

  • Representation of Interests of young people from inpatient child and youth welfare services
  • Discipline as a critical educational tool in inpatient child and youth welfare services
  • Discrimination and criminalization of young people in inpatient child and youth welfare services
  • Educational disadvantage of young people in residential child and youth welfare services
  • Specialization and privatization of residential child and youth welfare organizations
  • Impact-oriented management in child and youth welfare

These topics are dealt with in the form of both basic and practical research using a range of qualitative and quantitative social research methods. The fundamental research orientation of the working group is participatory and user-oriented. Within this framework, but also in the context of social work policy activities, a close-meshed dialog between science and practice is promoted.