Municipalities threatening to take homeless mothers' kids when they apply for shelter
Several municipalities threaten homeless mothers with taking their children away if they request shelter. The threat is almost always directed at women of color from two specific groups of mothers - non-Dutch women with a Dutch child, or Dutch women who temporarily lived abroad and became homeless after returning, Investico reported based on an investigation done with Trouw and the Groene Amsterdammers.
Municipalities view these mothers as a problem group that “excessively demands” emergency shelter, the investigators found in court rulings, municipal documents, and 15 personal files.
According to lawyers and social workers, such threats primarily occur in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Almere, but also in at least six other municipalities, including The Hague and Groningen.
At the entrance desk, shelter workers regularly turn homeless mothers away with the threat that they will report the incident to Veiligh Thuis, the domestic violence and child abuse center, if the women don’t leave or if they can’t find shelter themselves. Out of fear of losing their child, these women and their children end up living on the street.
The researchers also found that municipalities offer to place a child in foster care, thus separating them from their mother, who would receive no support. Or women are offered a “return package” in exchange for shelter. The women receive financial support to “voluntarily” return to the country where they previously resided, sometimes years ago.
Investico spoke with six women who were turned away in this way. “If we see you on the street, we’ll take your child,” one woman in Rotterdam was told, for example. Last year, the municipality of Amsterdam informed a Ghanaian woman living in the city with a Dutch child that the shelter is not intended for “families from outside Amsterdam or from outside the Netherlands.” Their accounts are supported by 26 lawyers, social workers, and local ombudsmen.
Separating a child from their mother simply because they are homeless is not permitted by the court, Joost Huijer, a children’s rights expert at Utrecht University, told Investico. “Municipalities should do everything they can to keep the family together.”
Judges have reprimanded municipalities for this on various occasions, according to the investigative journalists. In Amsterdam alone, judges overturned decisions to refuse shelter at least 10 times in the past three years, ruling that the municipality failed to adequately consider the child’s best interest.
Social workers urge women not to be deterred by threats, but to remain in the shelter’s waiting room until they receive a formal rejection in writing.
Veilig Thuis is angry that municipalities are threatening to report homeless mothers to the organization. “It is terrible that a homelessness problem is being shifted to child abuse or domestic violence. If people are at risk of homelessness, we should solve it with housing. Veilig Thuis has no role in that.”
The municipalities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Almere, The Hague, and Groningen denied to Investico that they threaten to report homeless mothers to Veiligh Thuis. The municipality of Almere said that it is unpleasant if women feel threatened, but filing a Veilig Thuis report is mandatory if a child could end up in an unsafe situation.
Veilig Thuis told Investico that it has no reporting requirement for homelessness.
