Two children of benefit parents have returned home under the guidance of the national Support Team Uithuisplaatsingen Allowance Affair. Project leader Judith Peeters of the team set up by the government confirms this on Monday after reporting from de Volkskrant. A 12-year-old boy goes back to his mother. A 16-year-old child, who was already in the process of relocation when the Support Team started to help with the guidance, also goes back home.
Also read this interview: First debts due to the Allowances affair, then child placed out of home
It Support Team since April has been helping families whose children have been removed from their homes because of problems directly or indirectly related to the child benefits affair. For example, parents are supported in applying to the court for a review of a custodial placement, and in contact with youth care and municipalities. The supervisors of the Support Team do not decide on the transfers themselves, that is up to Youth Care.
Relocation not always desired
So far, more than 140 parents have knocked on the door for help, mainly single mothers. According to CBS, more than 1,600 children were placed out of their homes between 2015 and 2021 in the Allowance affair.
Incidentally, reassignment is not always the desired result of the Support Team, says project leader Peeters. “There is a social and political pressure that all children should go home as soon as possible, but that is not the best everywhere. Sometimes children have been with a guardian for a long time or they can’t go back. There are also many underlying outcomes that we help achieve, such as contact recovery or emotional recovery.” The national team will present a preliminary results report in September.
Also read: Without court order, her son was removed from home, ‘I didn’t know what happened to me’