Focus and Scope

The International Journal of Child and Family Welfare (IJCFW) aimed at advancing the science and practice of child and family welfare by publishing original research and papers of theoretical, scientific, and clinical relevance to the field. IJCFW published empirical papers (including meta-analyses) and review papers, dealing with issues related to all fields of child and family welfare and with issues related to child and youth care (e.g., home-based care, family foster care, residential youth care). The journal was specifically interested in studies that focus on care and treatment processes in association with outcomes and effects; these studies can generate more insights into how interventions work and what care and treatment aspects make a difference for vulnerable children and families.

Latest Editors

Erik Knorth, PhD and Annemiek Harder, PhD (University of Groningen, The Netherlands).

ISSN online edition

2772-6037 University of Groningen Press

ISSNs printed editions

1383-4134 SWP Publishers from 1996 till 2000,
1378-286X ACCO Publishers from 2002 till 2011,
1378-286X Garant Publishers from 2014 till 2018.
Copyright remains with these publishers.

The first volume of the International Journal of Child and Family Welfare (IJCFW) appeared in 1996. It was published by SWP Publishers (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and came out with a frequency of three to four issues per year. The initial chief editors were Jan van der Ploeg, PhD, and Evert Scholte, PhD, both connected to the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. In 2001 a new editor-in-chief, Hans Grietens PhD, took office. Until 2010 Grietens was connected to the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in which year he changed jobs to become a professor at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. During the period of his main editorship, that ran until 2014, IJCFW was published by Acco Publishers (Leuven, Belgium). In that year a new team took post as editors-in-chief: Annemiek Harder, PhD, and Erik Knorth, PhD, both working at the University of Groningen at that time. From that moment, it was decided to start publishing the journal only in special issues that were also for sale as books. This was in line with the policy of the new publishing company: Garant Publishers (Antwerp, Belgium). In 2018 the EUSARF-board decided to stop the publication of IJCFW, mainly because no agreement could be reached regarding the online publication of the journal’s articles.

The editorial team and the EUSARF-board would like to express their gratitude to the three publishing houses and their directors/managers, viz mr. Paul Roosenstein (SWP Publishers), mrs. Nathalie Briessinck (Acco Publishers), and mr. Martijn Boerwinkel (Garant Publishers), for their permission to publish those volumes of IJCFW online that were launched within their fund, respectively. Facilitated by the University of Groningen Press, in this way a valuable part of the international scientific and clinical discourse in the domain of child and family welfare is preserved and remains accessible for all those interested.