Last year, the number of out-of-home placements of children with their parents fell from nearly 2,000 to 1,572. The Child Protection Board (RvdK) announced this on Tuesday morning. The decrease is due to the fact that the council was asked less often to investigate whether a child protection measure was necessary. In addition, staff shortages in youth protection play a role, as a result of which researchers do not recommend a custodial placement.
If child abuse is suspected, the Safe Home Advice and Reporting Center is first called in. If there are serious signals, the RvdK conducts a more extensive investigation and issues advice to the court about a home situation, for example if a child is the victim of abuse, abuse or neglect by parents. In the past year, the council recommended less often for custodial placement.
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The number of child protection measures has also decreased, from 9,685 to 7,452 in 2022. The RvdK does not always recommend custodial placement, for example a family guardian can also be called in. The number of child protection measures has been falling since 2018, but the decline was not as strong as in 2022. This is partly because it is more often possible to make a plan together with the family to prevent an out-of-home placement, but also due to staff shortages throughout youth protection .
The decrease therefore leads to concerns for RvdK director Theo Lodder. “We come to families where the problems are great and help is badly needed, but not available,” said Lodder in a press statement. According to Lodder, researchers are more reserved because they realize that sometimes “no youth protector is available”. In such cases, “voluntary help is offered longer, perhaps also to families where, given the seriousness and duration of the problem, intervention should have been done. That also worries us,” says Lodder.
With the cooperation of Anne-Martijn van der Kaaden.