“There is no consultation with parents and there are all kinds of different youth protectors involved in a family. It’s such a shame, because if you take a family into the decisions, then the chance of success is much greater,” says Marga de Groot, who takes reports as a confidant, to the NOS
The inspection concluded a month ago that the help of Youth Protection Noord is substandard. The causes are poor guidance and culture within the organization. Many people have left that. Children and young people do not get the help they need and for the employees who work at the organization, the pressure only gets bigger.
“I received all kinds of emails about abuses at Youth Protection Noord,” says Yaneth Menger, councilor of the Stadspartij 100% for Groningen and founder of the hotline at the NOS.
“It is our job to listen to residents and take signals seriously. Only if we know what is going to be structurally wrong can we improve the situation. We have therefore set up the hotline together with a number of local political parties.”
Parents, care providers and former employees are helped by volunteers from the hotline. The volunteers, who have experience in youth care, emphasize the problems at the youth protection organization and try to improve the situation. Around fifty people reported in two weeks.
“The expectation was that many people would report, but all those stories are really astonishing,” continues councilor Menger. “There are other ways to report within youth care, but our reporting point is already proving usefulness and necessity. And it is expanding, because the municipality of Stadskanaal has already started such a reporting point.”
Youth protection Noord acknowledges that the help must be better. A recovery plan has been made, which is mainly aimed at hiring extra people. It is now heading in the right direction, says the organization. Compared to the start of the year, there are ten extra youth protectors.
But the blackest scenario is also taken into account. Plans are made for when Youth Protection Noord loses its certificate and therefore all children and young people should get help with another organization.