Dutch youth institutions growing at alarming rate; youth inspectorate struggles to keep up: report

The number of youth care institutions in the Netherlands is growing explosively. In 2014 the country counted 120 major institutions, including things like foster homes and group homes for young people, now there are around 3 thousand, according to newspaper Trouw. The Youth Care Inspectorate is struggling to keep up.

There is no obligatory registration for offering private care, according to the newspaper. So the Inspectorate does not know exactly how many small youth care providers there are in the country. Those who do register themselves are sent a comprehensive questionnaire to complete. The Inspectorate uses this to decide whether a visit is needed, according to Trouw.

Over the past months the Inspectorate visited 26 providers. Six of them did not meet all the requirements. For example, all providers must have at least one qualified professional in house that is registered with the Youth Quality Register. In some homes the provider was unable to properly assess what help a child in his or her care needs.

Senior inspector Hans Jagers finds this worrying. "There must be someone in the house who can assess risky situations", he said to the newspaper.