Participation in decision-making procedures of young people in care is considered a key element that affects their current or future living circumstances and might improve the quality of decisionmaking on and delivery of provided services.This narrative literature review, covering the period 2000-2016, focuses on the opportunities of young people to participate, the challenges and facilitators to participation, and the outcomes of care related to participation.Sixteen studies met our search criteria. Several studies show that young people seem to have limited possibilities to "meaningful" participation in decision-making. Various challenges and facilitators in the participation process emerge with regard to the level of the young person, the professional, and the (sociocultural) context. None of the studies provides evidence for a connection between the "amount" of youth participation in decision-making and/or treatment during the care process and the outcomes of residential care. Implications for research and practice are reflected upon.

The Best Interest of the Child Questionnaire (BIC-Q) has been designed as an instrument for screening the quality of the rearing situation of asylum-seeking or refugee children. It is intended to aid legal decisions in asylum procedures. The aim of this study was to determine the reliability and the construct validity of the BIC-Q. Based on a study sample of refugee or asylum-seeking children in the Netherlands (N = 74), the psychometric quality of the BIC-Q was investigated using Cohen's kappa for the inter- and intrarater reliability and a nonparametric item response model for the construct validity. The interrater and intrarater reliabilities of the BIC-Q were good (kappa = .65 and .74 respectively). The results of the item response model revealed that the 14 pedagogical environmental conditions formed a strong and valid measurement scale for the quality of the childrearing environment (H = .55; rho = .94). Preliminary results indicate that the BIC-Q may be applied to support decisions on where the asylum-seeking or refugee child has the best opportunities for development.

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The participation of young people in care and treatment decisions is regarded as an essential element in effective decision-making and care. Although care and treatment in juvenile justice facilities is, in the first instance, based on a coercive placement (i.e. nonparticipatory decision-making), it is likely that participation is also essential for young offenders during their stay in care. In our study, we interviewed 24 care professionals working in two different juvenile justice facilities in the Netherlands. Professionals understand what participation entails (e.g. informing, listening to, taking views into account), and how and why they can use participation in everyday practice. Typically, they link issues such as safety and existing boundaries when talking about participation in a coercive context. Based on our findings, we present a conceptual model of factors that seem to influence a young person's participation process. These findings indicate that there is a need for the structural incorporation of youth participation into juvenile justice facilities in such a way as to consider the needs and perspectives of both young people and professionals.

This paper provides insight into the participatory development process of a self-report questionnaire for adolescents: the Best Interest of the Child Self-report questionnaire (BIC-S). The BIC-S is based on the 'Best Interest of the Child' model. This model articulates, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 14 childcare conditions promoting the wellbeing and development of young people. The primary intention of the BIC-S is to give young people in care a voice regarding decisions in legal and care areas that impact their future. The development process of the BIC-S consisted of three main phases (exploration, consultation, pilot), containing a total of five different research stages. Adolescents placed in secure residential care, care professionals and university students were involved in the process. We developed a differentiated instrument that enables young people to express their own views on key aspects of their current and future living conditions. The digitized questionnaire is unique in its comprehensiveness, accessibility and attractiveness for young people, and generates an evaluative profile of care conditions from the adolescents themselves. The paper shows how a theoretically sound questionnaire can be constructed to conform to standards set by adolescents themselves. The BIC-S can serve as a productive vehicle for assessment and shared decision-making in the field of youth careboth at the micro level of individual treatment and at the meso level of evaluating group programmes. Further research into its use in practice is recommended.