Thanks to an application submitted by the University of Twente, the Twente Academic Collaborative Centre for Young People (AWJT) has obtained a grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development’s “Academic collaborative centres for the transformation of youth care services” programme. The title of the application in question is: “Expanding care for children in poverty”, which can be seen as an extension of the current AWJT.
Magda Boere-Boonekamp (community medicine physician) and Ariana Need (Professor of the Sociology of Public Governance) are involved in the University of Twente study. These scientists will examine ways in which youth care service professionals – working in partnership with families living in poverty – can best tackle children’s health and welfare issues, making use of Family Group Conferencing principles.
Children in Poverty
The current collaborative centre will be expanded to include a project targeting children in poverty. The goal is to mobilize the strengths of families in poverty, both parents and children, and those of professional practitioners from the care sector. It is hoped that this enhanced cooperation will lead to better health and improved well-being for those children who are growing up in poverty. The collaborative centre’s focus is to prevent social exclusion, and in this context it adheres to the national youth care objectives, which emphasize cooperation between organizations and target groups. Within the framework of the AWJT, the University of Twente is cooperating with the Twente municipal public health service, various local authorities, the Saxion University of Applied Sciences, and the Family Group Centre. The project will start in December 2015.
The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development funds health research and makes every effort to ensure that the knowledge gained in this way is used to improve health and healthcare.
