Children of parents with intellectual disabilities are more likely to encounter youth protection than other children. They are reported at a younger age, stay in care longer and are more often placed out of home. Why is this? How do their trajectories differ from those of other families? And what factors play a role in this? Assistent professor in Developmental Pedagogy Lianne Bakkum will investigate this with her Veni grant.
"We know that parents with intellectual disabilities are more likely to face circumstances that may affect their parenting skills, such as reduced access to care, and mental or physical health problems. At the same time, there is variation between families in youth protection: not every journey is the same, and different risk and protective factors may be at play within each family. I want to understand those differences."
Mental disability and Dutch youth protection
Bakkum investigates how families with and without parents with mental disabilities move within Dutch youth protection. To do so, she uses national administrative data from Statistics Netherlands on youth protection and youth care, linked to healthcare data from primary care (from the Nivel). This combination makes it possible to analyse over an eight-year period how factors such as mental and physical health, and access to care, are related to different pathways and outcomes in the youth care system.
"By applying advanced analytical methods from other fields - sequential analysis and competing risks modelling - I map out the pathways families follow, how risks are interrelated and accumulate, and when the likelihood of drastic measures - such as out-of-home placement and termination of parental authority - increases. The results provide insight into critical moments when targeted support can be most effective," Bakkum said.
Together with parents, social workers and youth care policymakers, Bakkum then investigates which of these factors can be influenced. Based on this, they develop recommendations for policy and practice. In this way, the project provides concrete tools to offer more appropriate support to families in which one or both parents has a mental disability.
Bakkum reacted enthusiastically to the good news: "When I logged into NWO's system, I discovered that the Veni had been awarded, even though I had not yet received the official e-mail. At first, I was mostly in shock and could hardly believe it. I am grateful to be given the opportunity to carry out this research."
Veni grant
The Veni grant gives researchers the opportunity to conduct innovative, curiosity-driven research based on their own ideas. The programme stimulates creativity and contributes to the development of knowledge essential for tomorrow's society. With a maximum grant of €320,000, NWO supports researchers from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds.
When awarding the Veni grant, NWO assesses the scientific quality and innovative nature of the proposal, the expected scientific and societal impact and the researcher's qualifications. The Veni is intended for talented researchers who have recently obtained their PhDs and represents an important step in an academic career. Together with the Vidi and Vici grants, the Veni is part of the NWO Talent Programme.
