Care agencies failed in protecting boy, 7, from being strangled to death

Care agencies did not do enough to intervene in a Heerlen family in which a 7-year-old boy was strangled to death by his mother, according to a report by the joint state inspections on the incident, ANP reports. The incident happened on March 1st in Heerlen. After killing her child, the mother tried to take her own life. But negotiators from the police managed to stop her. The inspectorates found that the involved aid organizations did not give the child's safety enough priority. Those involved focused too much on the mother's problems and her failure to cooperate and too little on whether the child is growing up in a healthy and safe environment. They also did not manage to come up with a joint approach on how to help this troubled family. The report urges parties in the Heerlen municipalities to take initiative and make improvements in how vulnerable families are approached so that bottlenecks are removed and children can grow up safe and healthy.