[Contributions of pediatric and adolescent psychiatric and development psychological research on objective definition of the child welfare concept].

The term of "child well-being" is a rather vague notion in the German jurisdiction and has to be reinterpreted according to each single case. The present article describes the historical context and different attempts to come to a more concrete definition of the term suitable to serve as a guideline for expert opinion and jurisdiction. The authors discuss the question in which way scientific findings may enhance an objectivation of "child well-being", stressing especially contributions coming from the fields of developmental psychopathology, attachment research, interaction and family research and research on risk factors and protective factors.