Best Interests of the Child - Biography 1 | Page 11

Carla VAN OS
Carla van Os works as a researcher at the Study Centre for Children,
Migration and Law of the University of Groningen (the Netherlands). Her
research focuses on the assessment of the Best Interests of the Child in the
first phase of asylum procedures. From 2005 till August 2014 Carla van Os
worked at the Dutch section of Defence for Children where she combined
her studies in law, pedagogy and journalism in the advocacy for the best
interests of children in migration policy. The main topics in the advocacy
work were the abolishment of migration deten-tion, the right to shelter,
the protection of unaccompanied minors and the realization of a children’s
amnesty for undocumented children who resided for more than five years
in the Netherlands. From 1996 till 2005 Carla van Os worked at the Dutch
Refugee Foundation where she promoted the humanitarian assistance for
refugees who stayed in the region of conflict areas.

Frans BASTIAENS
Frans Bastiaens is managing director of HIT Foundation, an innovation
platform in de field of migration. HIT Foundation performs action
research

and

develops

methodologies,

for

instance

on

the

(re-)

integration of migrants in EU-member states and countries of origin.
HIT Foundation co-developed a Monitoring & Evaluation methodology to
determine the situation of returned asylum seeking children. Collaborating
with the University of Groningen, the Best Interest of the Child
model (operationalizing the best interest into 14 concrete conditions
for development of children) was used to determine the development
perspective of these returned children in the local context.

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