Netherlands to apologize to thousands or parents falsely profiled in benefits scandal
The Dutch cabinet plans to formally apologize to all children and young people who were harmed by the childcare benefits scandal, even as thousands of affected parents have still not been compensated. Demissionary NSC State Secretaries David Struycken (Legal Protection) and Marieke Palmen (Recovery and Benefits) informed the Tweede Kamer of the decision in a letter, NOS reports.
The state secretaries wrote that many children suffered additional harm because the Dutch tax authority’s "aggressive" recovery of benefits drove families into poverty, debt, and severe stress. “The government wants to explicitly recognize their suffering,” they stated.
The cabinet intends to engage directly with affected young people to discuss measures that will support them. Struycken and Palmen were responding to the report "Legacy of Injustice" by the Committee on Benefits and Out-of-Home Placements. That report documented how the Dutch tax authority’s recovery actions often deepened financial crises, worsening family problems.
Failures in youth assistance and child protection services meant that officials did not adequately identify or address these financial hardships. As a result, some children were removed from their families in situations that might have been prevented. The committee had already called for formal recognition of the harm caused.
Palmen, who now serves as state secretary, was a civil servant during the height of the scandal. She had raised alarms earlier and, in 2017, advocated compensation for the victims, but her warnings were ignored. “These young people still carry the negative impact every single day,” she wrote. She added that the cabinet wants to help them with “what they need most.”
Speaking to affected children and adolescents, Palmen stated, “We see and hear you and acknowledge that enormous suffering was caused by the government.”
The exact form of the apology and the assistance measures will be developed in collaboration with “the involved partners and organizations and the young people themselves in a careful process,” the state secretaries said.
Separately, the demissionary cabinet plans to establish a national support center and create new programs specifically for children who were removed from their homes.
Among the thousands of parents impacted by the benefits scandal, many had children taken away, but there is still no precise figure for how many. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), all affected parents combined had over 68,000 children. The Ministry of Finance estimates there were over 100,000 children in these families.
CBS has calculated that about 2,090 children of victimized parents were forcibly placed out of their homes. The Ministry of Justice and Security reported a higher figure of 3,058 children removed.
