The Healthcare and Youth Inspectorate (IGJ) is tightening supervision of the closed youth care of the Pactum institution in Deurne. The inspectorate wants the care provided to be improved. Pactum must comply with the rules within six months. The sector organization Youth Care Netherlands is critical of the Inspectorate’s decision.
Children end up in so-called Youth Care Plus when they pose a great danger to themselves or others. A judge must approve this placement. The closed departments are now seen as too strict, and therefore they should disappear around 2030. Instead, there should be small open treatment centers. Until then, freedom-restricting measures can still be used in extreme emergency situations, such as self-harm or suicidality.
Relief
According to the Inspectorate, Pactum’s location does not yet meet the legal requirements for providing closed youth care. The IGJ concludes that the groups were too large and that young people were locked in their own rooms, while other measures were possible. Alternative spaces also did not meet the legal requirements: young people could not independently regulate daylight, lighting, temperature or ventilation.
In addition to the location in Deurne, Pactum’s location in Zetten is also under increased supervision. “We are still in the middle of the transformation of JeugdzorgPlus and our employees are working hard to realize the changes and offer young people the best possible care in the best conditions,” said a spokesperson for Pactum know. The institution offers youth care at several locations in North Brabant, Limburg, Gelderland and Overijssel.
Change resisted
Pactum receives support from Youth Care Netherlands. The trade organization is still busy figuring out how to help young people in the future. “Change takes time,” says board member Mirjam van den Nieuwenhuijzen. According to her, this change is sometimes thwarted by the existing rules. “It is difficult to explain that the inspectorate is now introducing stricter supervision,” says Van den Nieuwenhuijzen.
It is not only Pactum’s two locations that are now under increased surveillance. In total, this concerns seven of the nine institutions in the Netherlands that offer closed youth care. Three other providers, with a combined seven locations, have also been commissioned to make improvements.