Kids in youth care, foster care not alwasy safe, wait too long for help: Inspectorates

Children in youth care and foster care are not receiving the help they need. Their caregivers often lack a clear understanding of their safety, and the children frequently have to wait far too long for help. Institutions also lack proper collaboration, the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) and the Justice and Security Inspectorate (IJV) concluded.

The two inspectorates investigated youth care after foster parents in Vlaardingen seriously abused a girl in their care. “The chance that something so extreme and prolonged could happen again is very small,” said IGJ Chief Inspector Angela van Putten. But the problems surrounding the girl’s case “are reflected more broadly; there are children whose well-being we don’t know,” said Van Putten.

IJV Chief Inspector Hans Faber said he made the same appeal in 2019. “I have a sense of déjà vu. The bitter conclusion is that there has been no real improvement for children in six years. That’s a bitter observation.” According to him, “things are moving, but to be honest, a solution seems further away than closer.”

Youth care workers do the best they can, he said, “but they have to work with a system that doesn’t work. There is a shortage of everything. Too few staff, too little provision of appropriate support, too little meaningful contact with children and parents.”

According to Van Putten, it’s not just about money. “It’s also about the complexity of the system. The bureaucracy that comes with it.” She also mentioned the staff shortages. This is partly because employees are losing motivation and looking for other work. “They need to feel that they can really make a difference, that they’re not just making calls.”

The inspectorates acknowledge that they can’t do more than make a call. “We can’t say: we’re shutting everything down and no young person will go to an institution anymore. It’s an administrative problem; we can’t enforce that,” said Faber.

Putten added that the IGJ no longer enforces its rules when an institution, through no fault of its own, fails to comply with the law. “The limits of supervision have been reached. Inspections are not the solution.”

The inspectorates don’t have a solution ready either. “If it were easy, everyone would have figured it out already. It has to do with the way we organize healthcare. We need to make different agreements with each other.”

Caretaker State Secretaries Judith Tielen (Youth) and Arno Rutte (Justice) promised to address the criticism of youth protection and foster care. A letter to parliament will soon provide more clarity on their actions.

Youth care providers are showing “enormous commitment,” the two caretaker VVD Ministers said in a joint statement. But they also recognize that children and families “are not always helped properly and in a timely manner.” Tielen and Rutte cite staff shortages and inadequate cooperation as reasons.