Abused kids need more rights on parental visits: VVD MP

The VVD wants children who were abused by a parent to be able to choose whether or not they still want to have contact with them, RTL reports. At this time the court can force a child to maintain contact with the parent who abused him/her through an access arrangement. The VVD wants the law to change. The court should consider whether the child still wants to see his/her abuser. "The right of parents, to have contact with their children, is found very important in the legal system. But we think that in such a situation, if parents sexually abused their child, thus raped their child, such rights must fall away." said VVD parliamentarian Brigitte van der Burg. She wants the same to also apply to siblings. "You don't a parent who abused, for example, the oldest child to then move on to a second or third child." About 120 thousand children are abused or sexually abused in the Netherlands each year. The Tweede Kamer, lower house of parliament, will discuss this on Wednesday.