The Quality of the Childrearing Environment of Refugee or Asylum-Seeking Children and the Best Interests of the Child: Reliability and Validity of the BIC-Q

The Best Interest of the Child Questionnaire (BIC-Q) has been designed as an instrument for screening the quality of the rearing situation of asylum-seeking or refugee children. It is intended to aid legal decisions in asylum procedures. The aim of this study was to determine the reliability and the construct validity of the BIC-Q. Based on a study sample of refugee or asylum-seeking children in the Netherlands (N?=?74), the psychometric quality of the BIC-Q was investigated using Cohen's kappa for the inter- and intrarater reliability and a nonparametric item response model for the construct validity. The interrater and intrarater reliabilities of the BIC-Q were good (kappa?=?.65 and .74 respectively). The results of the item response model revealed that the 14 pedagogical environmental conditions formed a strong and valid measurement scale for the quality of the childrearing environment (H?=?.55; rho?=?.94). Preliminary results indicate that the BIC-Q may be applied to support decisions on where the asylum-seeking or refugee child has the best opportunities for development. Copyright (C) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.