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Abstract
In Dutch law, adolescents from 12 years of age in residential care have the right to file a complaint. In order to study their cognitive competencies in doing so, 52 boys and 15 girls were interviewed. Most of them turned out to judge acts that would threaten their physical and mental integrity as ‘complaintworthy’. Fourteen of the adolescents turned out to have had a physical encounter with a member of staff. Their views on the encounter tended to be age‐related. The stages theory of Selman was not specific enough to interpret these interviews. Some respondents already showed signs of reciprocity in their answers, before they reached the reciprocal stage. These results are discussed from a Vygotskian point of view.