Clementine Degener

Dr. Clementine Degener is a Research Professor leading the Voice of Children in Foster Care research group at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. She specializes in amplifying children's voices in youth care systems, with a focus on ethnic identity development in transcultural foster placements. Her work bridges academic research and practical interventions through collaboration with children, foster parents, and professionals.

Degener studied Andragogy at the University of Groningen and conducted graduate research in South Africa. She holds a PhD focused on ethnic identity development of foster children and completed postdoctoral work on identity-enhancing practices in foster care.

Her research explores identity formation, child participation rights, and cultural socialization in foster care contexts. She co-develops practical tools like the Identity-Enhancing Actions Guide for professionals and leads participatory research teams that integrate lived experiences with academic knowledge to transform youth care practices.

Degener's publications demonstrate consistent focus on ethnic identity dynamics in foster care, employing longitudinal and qualitative methods. Her work contributes to social work, developmental psychology, and cultural studies, emphasizing practical applications for improving child welfare systems. Recent research examines how foster care organizations can institutionalize child participation frameworks.

She leads a sustainable learning community that connects Social Work, Pedagogy, and Law students across institutions to embed child-perspective approaches in professional education. Her research group operates under the Knowledge Centre for Talent Development and is part of the National Foster Care Knowledge Agenda.