Research
We conduct research on the following topics:
- Child abuse and neglect, its risk assessment, and its consequences on child development and family functioning
- Forensic-psychological assessment in family law proceedings
- Assessment and evaluation of children’s views and preferences in judicial and administrative proceedings consistent with the UNCRC
- Development of aggressive and antisocial behavioral problems, its associations with socio-emotional development, callous-unemotional traits
Our research designs comprise longitudinal and cross-sectional studies, with samples often targeting highly vulnerable populations. We combine psychometric and questionnaire data with court file analysis in our research. To analyze court files of legal cases, we apply content coding as well as machine-learning approaches.
Current Funded Projects
Funding: German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
Timeline: 2023-2026
Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Jelena Zumbach-Basu
Research Assistants: M.Sc. Lara Schwarz, M.Sc. Antonia Schubert, Dipl.-Psych. Meike Katharina Zell
Objective:
The scope of judicial decisions on protective measures in child protection proceedings is undoubtedly very large. A missed intervention to protect the child can have just as serious consequences as the wrongful removal of a child from its family of origin. Psychological expert assessments can provide important findings in the relevant child protection proceedings. Experience shows that they may carry great weight in the judicial decision-making process. However, the scientific community has criticized the fact that there is still a lack of systematic knowledge on the reliability and validity of child maltreatment risk assessments by psychological experts and family courts. However, such findings could contribute significantly to improving the accuracy of decisions in child protection proceedings.
In the PROSPECT study, first, we examine the reliability of psychological child maltreatment risk assessments. We analyze how the decisions made by family courts are based upon these assessments. The second focus of the study lies on examining the mental health and quality of life of children and adolescents who undergo child protection proceedings. We examine how these factors relate to the recommendations of psychological experts and the decisions of family courts on child protection measures. Third, we analyze whether the expert recommendations are implemented by the courts in practice and which indicators the courts use as a basis for their decisions. This project lays the foundation for future longitudinal data collection. The study is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Justice and all sixteen German state justice administrations.
For further information see: www.phb.de/prospect-studie
Funding: German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth / Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues (UBSKM)
Timeline: 2024-2025
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Jelena Zumbach-Basu, Prof. Dr. Renate Volbert
Research Assistants: M.Sc. Anna-Luisa Sahlfeld, Dr. Jonas Schemmel, M.Sc. Asne Senberg, Dipl.-Psych. Meike Katharina Zell
Objective:
Sexual violence against children poses a significant risk of impairment of further psychological development, from which children must be effectively protected. Family courts have the power to intervene to ensure protection from sexual violence and other threats to children's welfare. However, family courts are also confronted with particular challenges. While the main focus in criminal proceedings is on the previous conduct of alleged perpetrators and the court must be convinced that they committed the offense, whereby unresolvable doubts must be interpreted in dubio pro reo, the future protection of a child is the main focus in family court proceedings. The strict standard of proof that we know from criminal proceedings does not apply here.
A wrong decision in a child protection proceeding is ultimately always to the detriment of the child's wellbeing: the risk that a child is exposed to the danger of further (sexual) abuse and thus a considerable likelihood of future impairments if this risk is not averted is obvious. Conversely, long-term family interventions such as placement of the child in forster care or the prevention of in person contact between a child and a parent, which would not have been necessary to protect the child, are also detrimental to the child's wellbeing (see Dettenborn, 2001; Dettenborn & Walter, 2015; Kindler & Eschelbach, 2014).
This feasibility study aims to investigate which research method can be applied to create the best empirical basis to answer research questions on the course of family court proceedings in which allegations of sexual violence occur. The research questions cover the following four areas:
1) Questions on case constellations and their frequencies; 2) Questions on the significance of psychological expert opinions; 3) Questions on the family court's own examination; 4) Questions on court decisions and their frequencies.
The aim is a) to determine the possibility of a comprehensive quantitative content analysis of family court files and b) to outline a qualitative survey with judges on their experiences and ways of handling cases in which allegations of sexual violence occur.