The Best Interests of the Child assessment with recently arrived refugee children

In 2014, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) celebrated its 25th anniversary. While the best interests of the child have for a much longer time been a major concern for professionals working with children, the UNCRC gave children the legal right to have their best interests assessed and used as a primary consideration when decisions concerning them are taken. In order to safeguard the best interests of children it is important to have scientific standards for the way the best of interests of the child should be assessed. The contribution of Margrite Kalverboer in this publication (Chapter 2.2) shows how a specific model, the Best Interests of the Child model (BIC model), can provide such a standard. In this text, I discuss applying the BIC model to refugee children as well as relevant factors that should be involved in the best interests of the child assessment for the first decision in the migration procedure