Monday 16 July 2001:
The context of society
Plenary session: Towards a foster caring society
Opening documentary
The documentary Towards a foster caring society shows fascinating
forms of foster care from all over the world. Each social context
in its own way gives meaning and implementation to foster care. To
a child, living at ‘home’ is what really matters. But a
home can be established in a variety of ways. American policy at the
present time is based on community-based foster care arising from
private initiatives by churches. In the Netherlands, it is possible
for someone to be severely handicapped and live with his grandparents.
One foster family with 62 children and 800 successful placements has
set up a musical band as a means of breaking through the spiral of
violence in Rio de Janeiro’s slums. Gypsy children (Roma) in
Rumania, rejected at first, have now suddenly been taken into care
successfully. Food for thought and discussion on the road towards
a foster caring society.
• Documentary maker: Gerard Braspenning (45), experienced television
journalist and documentary maker, employed by the national network.
Tracks
Track 1: Ideology & Ethics
Social parenthood? An international perspective?!
Foster care is strongest when parents and foster parents share the
responsibilities of parenthood. But in practice, problems can arise
when responsibility is shared in this way. Solutions to these problems
have been sought in the courts, and it has often seemed that the position
of foster parents can only be secured by restricting or removing the
authority of the parents, for example in case of custody or adoption.
But a legal contest is not the only solution. Social parenthood is
a model in which this problem is handled creatively, so that a win-win
situation will arise for parents, foster parents and above all for
the child. In this track, participants will be invited to join the
discussion actively and to share their opinions!
• Prof. Dr. Jaap E. Doek, Professor of Law, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam and UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Reporter).
• A local consultant in Rwanda and UNICEF researcher in foster
care in a society in which the consequences of the genocide and the
HIV / AIDS problem call for a ‘fostering’ solution.
Track 2: Management & Organisation
The meaning of the civil society in foster care
An international forum will initiate an exchange of thought on the
roles of state and society in developing and re-inforcing foster care.
In some countries, powerful initiatives from society falter because
they must be fitted into certain government-controlled systems. In
other countries, these very initiatives are used as a means of adapting
the system and increasing the strength of (local) initiatives. What
is the situation world-wide? A dialogue between the forum and the
audience about best practices from different parts of the world.
• Dr. A. van Montfoort, director Van Montfoort Consultancy,
Woerden, the Netherlands
• International forum with guests from Egypt, India, Rumania,
Japan, Uganda and the Netherlands
Track 3: Education & Science
Community-based (foster) care & social network strategies
‘It takes a whole village to raise a child’, Hillary Clinton
once said. This means that in assisting parents and children, social
network strategies are important. One implication of this for foster
care is that children must be given a place of their own within their
families and/or environment. The return home can then take place in
a more natural and positive way. For foster care organisations this
means co-operation with other welfare institutions, and with businesses,
schools and other parties that play a part in the immediate living
environment of parents and child. Socially this requires that policy
anticipate changes in the way in which (foster) parents want to fill
their daily lives and seek to combine care and employment. This track
is about community-based (foster) care from various perspectives.
What requirements does this make on foster care?
• Lia van Bekhoven, free-lance journalist, correspondent for
the Dutch National radio and television in London
• International forum with (inter)national guests from Business
in Community, Community Schools, Community Based Initiatives, Foster
Care for Children with a Handicap, Neighbourhood-Based Foster Care
and the Dutch Family Council.
Track 4: Concrete Projects
The power of young people in caring for each other
Foster care takes on a different meaning if young people implement
it themselves. The result is more likely to be an implementation in
harmony with its community and consistent with its standards and values,
and an implementation in which ‘quality criteria’ for foster
care (for example housing, finance) are seen from a different perspective.
In these communities care will be given the opportunity to re-inforce
and develop itself naturally instead of being squeezed into the rules
and systems of the government. Four individuals who initiated this
development in communities in Rio de Janeiro and Amsterdam will enter
into a discussion with the audience on the possibility of enhancing
this approach to foster care.
• Nanko van Buuren, director of the Instituto Brasileiro de
Inovações em Saúde Social (IBISS), for the last
14 years the initiator and driving force behind projects in the slums
of Rio de Janeiro.
• Flávio Luis Baretto Gomes, foster parent (20 years old)
and co-ordinator project Catadores da Vida (IBISS). Born and bred
in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Together with his wife Claudette
(19) he raises their five-year-old son Yogo and their two-year-old
foster son Thiago. IBISS is supporting this (informal) foster family.
• Gilo Koswal; co-creator and director of the Foundation Brotherhood
in Amsterdam South East; for 24 years he has been actively engaged
in implementing community-based care on the basis of the philosophy
of empowerment.
• Alberto Dianza; the elder son (17) of a family that fled from
Angola. Due to the absence of his father he, being the oldest male
was given the father role in the family. Brotherhood supports him
in this.
TUESDAY 17 JULY 2001:
FOCUS ON CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Plenary session: Opening by Howard Komproe and Andjena Ramadhin.
Children’s Aid Award 2001: Children’s expression of life
in a foster home
State Secretary of Justice Ms. E. Kalsbeek, with the assistance of
young people, will open the travelling exhibition of the Kinderhulp
Award 2001.
In drawings, collages, poems, jigsaw puzzles and other creative forms
Dutch children in foster family homes demonstrated how they feel about
growing up in a foster home as part of a national competition. What
is special about this contest is that both foster children and foster
parents’ ‘own’ children participated. On the basis
of all entries an exhibition has been put together, which will be
opened by the state secretary of the Justice Department, Ella Kalsbeek.
In the coming years this exhibition will be on the road in the Netherlands
to inform children and adults about life in a foster family home.
The Children’s Aid Award and the exhibition are an initiative
of the National Fund for Children’s Aid (Nationaal Fonds Kinderhulp).
This Dutch Fund is supporting children in the Netherlands who are
in less fortunate circumstances, usually due to disturbed home situations.
Children’s Aid is providing support by, among other things, funding
services, materials and activities that the government does not pay
for, such as a week on a camping trip, membership of a sports club,
a swing for a children’s home.
Children’s Aid also publishes a newspaper for young people growing
up in foster families.
A world wide Youth in Care Network
PowerPoint presentation by Matthew Geigen Miller from Canada.
International young people’s debate chaired by Emine Bozkurt.
The young participants can make a choice from the following:
– A foster child that experiences his/her foster family as his/her
own family is better off being adopted.
– Foster children have the right to break off contact with their
biological parents.
– Each child has a right to talk with someone in absolute confidentiality.
– Foster children are just like other children, so don’t
call them foster children.
– Children of foster parents can exercise a veto if they feel
that the foster child no longer fits into their family.
– If my mother and father had received proper help, I would never
have ended up a foster child.
– If you cannot live at home any longer, living with your grandmother
and grandfather is the second best option.
– Black children don’t belong in white foster families.
– Children that live in foster family homes can receive a great
deal of support from (international) young people’s organisations.
• Emine Bozkurt is a communication expert by the Rathenau Institute
in The Hague.
She has demonstrated a great deal of commitment to youth participation
in a national and international context. For example, at the end of
2000 she organised a discussion session with the European Parliament
at which 20 young people were involved. She also wrote a note on youth
participation. Among other things she promotes a positive implementation
of the multicoloured nature of society.
After the debate the participants will be the first to receive an
international publication with examples from the practice of youth
participation.
WEDNESDAY 18 JULY 2026
THE RECREATIONAL DAY
Agency visits and Tours
Agency visits
It will be possible for you to visit youth care organisations to
experience the way youth care has been organised in the Netherlands.
We will visit a number of interesting projects in the area of child
and youth care in the region. There is a highly developed regional
vision regarding child and youth care. After lunch, we will connect
general developments at the local level (playgrounds in the neighbourhood,
community young people’s council, the youth prevention project
in co-operation with the police) with complementary care. We will
visit, among other things, a medical day-care centre, and a number
of other interesting projects concerning care for young people and
their parents. During the programme there will be ample opportunity
for asking questions and becoming acquainted with the many developments
in child and youth care. We hope you will find it a fascinating and
instructive day!
A guided day trip by touringcar. Coffee/tea and lunch are included.
Package price: free
If you want to take part in the agency visits, please mail us ()
because space is limited!For information about the tours visit the
website www.ifco2001.nl
Prices booked in advance are indicated, tickets can be purchased
at the conference with an additional charge on the price.
THURSDAY 19 JULY 2026
SYSTEMS OF CARE
Plenary session: Two daddies
Today’s subject is systems of care. Several of these interrelate
in the prize-winning documentary we selected to show you about a gay
couple taking care of seven children as foster parents. We follow
them in their loving care for their children and we witness their
co-operation with the parents on the basis of mutual respect.
Later this day you can participate in a discussion with foster parents
Ron and Aad about the conditions and the special qualities needed
to raise those seven kids in this family-situation.
Tracks
Track 1: Ideology & Ethics
Mothering against the odds
A refugee mother is interviewed about the help she needs in a western
care system.
In the fourth track a refugee from Iran who lives in Holland will
tell her story. Every day migrants and refugees arrive in Holland;
at this moment Amsterdam numbers 178 nationalities. Still, our Western
perspective in the care system has hardly developed into a multicultural
perspective.
In this track, an Iranian mother will tell her story – a story
about coming to a foreign country, about hospitality and hostility,
about being homesick and especially about her experience of our Dutch
system of care.
The main theme in the interview will be: In what way does the refugee
background interfere with bringing up a child in Western society.
Is the voice of the mother heard and do we understand her needs?
• Nel Jessurun is a multicultural psychotherapist, with a migrant
background. She is the author of the book ‘Transculturele Vaardigheden’
(Transcultural Skills). For over 20 years her ideas have been used
in the field of multicultural mental health care.
• Susan Rezai is a refugee from Iran. She came to Holland 15
years ago with her husband and daughter. Her daughter is now 16 years
old and Susan got divorced a few years after her arrival in Holland.
She works nowadays as an actress.
Track 2: Management & Organisation
The need for new systems of foster care
Child welfare is in transition from a traditional diagnosis-treatment
model to an empowerment model. In foster care this means an increasing
belief in kinship care, in relying on the strengths of children, parents
and foster parents and in the problem solving capacities of social
networks.
These developments require profound changes in the policy and management
of youth care.
• Prof. Emily Jean McFadden teaches at Grand Valley State University
School of Social Work in the USA. She has directed federal grant projects
on child welfare, including ones on permanency planning and kinship
care, and has written books, articles and training manuals on child
welfare.
• Dr. Jo Hermanns is a policy consultant in youth policy and
part time professor in child development at the University of Amsterdam.
He recently was involved in a national innovation program of foster
care in the Netherlands.
Track 3: Education & Science
The voice of the child in the system of care.
At the core of the system of care is the child. The challenge is
how to present that core as a living and breathing human being. We
need to find a way to have children participate in the process of
help. How do we communicate with children in order to give them the
help they need?
• Dr Martine Delfos Ph.D., psychologist, has been involved
for more than 25 years in youth relief work as an independent therapist
and lecturer. She has published several books and won an award for
her therapeutic children's book. She has gotten a lot of recognition
for her work regarding sexual education, sexual abuse and communication
with children
• Amos Kevin Annan is a children’s advocate. His field is
Children's Rights. He studied and now lives in Tema, Ghana, West-Africa.
He is a member of the Child Rights Information. Since 1997 he has
been Star of Hope International Advocate-Trainer, UN Child.
Track4: Concrete projects
Everything you always wanted to know about foster care but were afraid
to ask
In this track (former) foster children will interview two foster
parents about their experiences with foster children. The subjects
will be the fears and hopes of the foster parents, their reasons for
starting a foster family, the lessons they learned, the strategies
they used and any other subjects they would like to discuss. But the
foster children devised the questions and will ask them. So we will
turn around the traditional roles of adult and minor.
The presentation will probably have the nature of a television show
in an effort to increase the quality of information. Of course, participation
of the audience is very welcome!
• Nanneke Quik & Carolus van Nijnatten, both foster parents,
are related professionally to foster care, Nanneke Quik as juvenile
judge and Carolus van Nijnatten as scientific researcher in the field
of child welfare.
FRIDAY 20 JULY 2026
INSPIRATION FOR A NEW ERAPlenary opening session
Tracks
Track 1: Ideology & Ethics
Boundaries in foster care? Challenges and restrictions?!
On the basis of the experiences and inspiration of the conference
days, an expert on ‘creative thinking’ will invite participants
to approach foster care from an entirely different angle in a process
of creative thought, to explore boundaries and to formulate challenges
for the future. To what extent does the social context determine the
boundaries of foster care and to what extent are we capable of shifting
these boundaries and giving new meaning to foster care?
• Erik van Nieuwenhuizen, training and consultancy, ‘Nova
Casos’, Amstelveen, The Netherlands. His background is one of
hotel management, statistics and marketing. Creative thinking and
behavioural change are his core activities.
• Dr. Luk M.H. Robbroeckx, senior lecturer and researcher, specialised
in foster care, department of Remedial Education, University of Nijmegen,
The Netherlands
Track 2: Management & Organisation
Decision-making processes in foster care
Within and between organisations many decisions are being made every
day, decisions about children who (on a temporary basis) cannot live
with their natural parents. These decisions form a chain of actions
and reactions, in which it seems to be very difficult to change a
direction once taken. Every decision ought to contribute to the best
possible co-operation between professionals and other parties involved,
but especially to continuity in the child’s life. It would appear
that the mandate of decision-making is with the professionals, but
in the long run the child cannot expect continuity from this. Parents,
foster parents, children and other non-professional parties involved
are being asked for their opinion, but how can they really participate
in decision-making? In the context of the ‘Innovation Plan Foster
Care Limburg’ employees of the Foster Care Agency in the province
of Limburg developed a decision-making game in which they actively
involve the audience in deciding about a specific case.
• Bart van der Neut, consultant interim management, ‘Meerwerk’,
Amsterdam
• Karin van Aubel, manager, Centre for Foster Care Limburg
• Annemiek Couwenbergh, project manager ‘Innovation Plan
Foster Care Limburg’
• Employees and actors of the Foster Care Agency in Limburg,
The Netherlands
Track 3: Education & Science
Foster care; communities of practice
Information and communication technology (ICT) is here to stay. Within
foster care circles the use of e-mail has gradually emerged. But there
are more possibilities for using ICT that will give a new dimension
to communication, learning and development in foster care. In the
development of new methods of ‘Family Reunification’ a national
development group will for example use the idea of a ‘community
of practice’. The participants will be invited to explore the
possibilities of ICT for parents, foster parents, (foster) children,
foster care workers, developers and all other parties in foster care,
virtually, by means of a communication system made available by the
‘Centre Innovation of Education and Training’ (CINOP).
• Drs. Bert Veldhuizen, project manager ICT, CINOP in ‘s-
Hertogenbosch (Netherlands).
• Drs. Riet Portengen, consultant TOPIC ~methods, organisation-
and policy development~, Ouderkerk a/d Amstel (Netherlands).
Track 4: Concrete projects
Foster Care Group Conference
Family Group Conferences are a booming business in the world of foster
care. Families are considered experts on the lives of children and
together they draw up a plan for the child’s future. Social workers
facilitate the execution of this plan and support the family if need
be. This form of Family Group Decision-making originated in the Maori
culture in New Zealand. Paul Nixon is the driving force behind the
development of Family Group Conferences in England. By analogy to
the method of Family Group Conferences he co-ordinates a ‘Foster
Care Group Conference’, at which the audience draws up a plan
for the future of foster care on the basis of their knowledge and
experiences gained at the conference.
• Paul Nixon, project manager ‘Family Group Conferences’,
Hampshire County Council, Winchester (England).
Plenary session
Inspiration for a new era:
Reflecting on the IFCO 2001 conference (documentary)
The documentary maker, Gerard Braspenning, will follow the conference,
the tracks, workshops and other activities and ask participants about
their impressions and reactions. The focal point will be the inspiration
they receive and the messages they will take home with them for a
new era in foster care.
• Documentary maker: Gerard Braspenning (45), experienced television
journalist and documentary maker, employed by the national network.
Closing ceremony
The end of the conference won’t be the end of our thinking about
foster care. All ideas and experiences gained during the week will
live on. By means of new technologies, boundaries will disappear.
Talks that took place in keynotes, tracks and workshops will go on
in the chatroom, through e-mail, through contacts made and in plans
for international co-operation.
A foster-caring society can only be achieved by international co-operation.
A new age, new applications of possibilities for exchange, an increasing
number of people that -either because they are forced to or of their
own accord- move all over the world and are in need of shelter. Foster
care in motion. We hope that this week will give a new incentive to
your thoughts and actions.
The IFCO conferences in Finland and Argentina will be the next stations
in this journey.
We will part in a swinging mood, see you again!
