“That is well over thirty”, Pessenaar Jurgen Deceuninck counts the number of lawsuits that his family has already conducted. “On all kinds of different fronts, of course. The children, the financial part, administration, municipality: and so on.” Seven years ago, their daughters – Zoé and Nora – were evicted. That happened because Jurgen and his wife Gerda became victims of the allowance scandal.
Years ago, Gerda applied for a little too much childcare allowance. When that came to light, she was labeled a fraud. The couple had to repay the full fee, and could not appeal. Because Gerda was labeled a fraud, she also had no access to legal aid or even a payment arrangement. As a result of the allowance affair, a total of 1,115 children have been removed from home, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands.
A year ago, the Rutte III cabinet fell over the allowance affair. Despite the fact that the case is still regularly in the news, and there are regular debates about it in the House of Representatives, this has not yet led to concrete results for the Deceuninck family.
“It’s more talk than something being carried out. If we don’t do it ourselves, nothing will happen,” explains Jurgen Deceunick of the action he is taking. This is partly why the family will be back in court in Zwolle tomorrow. “We see ourselves forced to take legal action every time, because that is the only way you can get to the real problems.”
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