Margrite Kalverboer

Children under guardianship are not sufficiently involved in the decisions made about them, Children's Ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer wrote in a letter to institutions and the responsible ministers on Thursday. According to Kalverboer, the child protectors want the best for these children, but much can be improved in the decision making process around these kids, NU.nl reports.

The Netherlands current poverty policy is not enough to adequately meet the needs of the 378 thousand children in the country living in poverty, according to Children's Ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer. More attention must be paid to creating a stable home situation for these children, she said in a report published on Tuesday, Het Parool reports.

Children and young people on the Dutch Caribbean islands have too few possibilities "to develop their talents", Children Ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer said in a new report published on Wednesday. On paper the kids on Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius have the same rights as other children in the Netherlands. "But in practice, we see that the bar for children in the Dutch Caribbean is much lower", Kalverboer said, according to the Volkskrant. "We have two standards. That can and must not be."

Dutch children experience too much pressure around their school work and their work load needs to be reduce, according to Children's Ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer. "Children think they are judged too much on their academic performance. That feeing fits with what adults experience. They suffer from depression and sleep too little." Kalverboer said, AD reports.

Nearly half of Dutch children under the age of 12 already experienced some form of traumatic event ranging from emotional neglect, physical or sexual abuse to a parent with suicidal tendencies, according to a study done by children's rights organization Auegeo, NOS reports.

For this study Auego had 660 children aged 11 or 12 years surveyd by teenagers a few years older than themselves. The study was handed to Children's Ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer and Princess Laurentein on Wednesday.

Children's Ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer received "dozens of threats" following a report she released on Zwarte Piet on Friday. She reported the threats to the police and is pressing charges

Margrite Kalverboer was sworn in as the new Children's Ombudsman in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, on Wednesday. She is succeeding Marc Dullaert, whose term ended on April 1st.