Children at risk in history: A story of expansion

Looking at children at risk in history, one of the most striking changes over time is the relative and absolute growth of the number of at-risk children. Although this is not a linear development, the need for intervention and prevention in the 1970s being much weaker than before and after that period, the long-term direction of history indeed seems to indicate growth. This is a paradox when looking at the social, economic and scientific development of the Western world. Although the ambition of diminishing the group of at-risk children continues until today, never before in history were more children being diagnosed as at risk.