THE REPUBLIC OF GOD OR THE REPUBLIC OF CHILDREN - CHILDHOOD AND CHILD-REARING AFTER THE REFORMATION - AN APPRAISAL OF SCHAMA,SIMON THESIS ABOUT THE UNIQUENESS OF THE DUTCH CASE

In The Embarrassment of Riches (1987) Simon Schama claims that the Dutch of the 17th century were the first to approach children in a modern, love-oriented way. Schama came to this conclusion from (emblem-)books and above all from Dutch paintings. According to the authors of the present paper Schama's thesis is a reestablishment of the old idea of the 'discovery of childhood', now settled in the United Provinces. His view can only be upheld by ignoring the criticism of evolutionistic writing on the subject. In this paper Schama's portrait of pedagogical relations in the Dutch Republic will be critically examined and compared with iconographic and literary evidence from other times and places which has been made available in recent years

The Dutch child protection system:Historical overview and recent transformations

Although the Dutch child protection system has undergone several major transformations during the last three decades, for many years there has been a clear focus on serving the best interests of children, with the Convention on the Rights of the Child playing a key role. Great efforts are made to prevent child maltreatment or to intervene at an early stage. Large-scale prevalence studies have shown the epidemic scope of child maltreatment in the Netherlands. Both the high prevalence rates of child maltreatment and reviews of serious and fatal cases have led to significant refinements in procedures for identifying different forms of child maltreatment and for reporting. This chapter draws on the policy analysis developed for the research project Hestia, which compares policies and responses to child abuse and neglect in England, Germany and the Netherlands. The chapter begins with an historical overview of the policies and events which have shaped the current child protection system. Next, we describe in detail the present Youth Act 2015 and the scope and organization of the child protection system. In the final section, we formulate a conclusion and outline some challenges for the future of Dutch child protection policy and practice