After the summer, children and their parents will be heard by the Leiden city council about youth care. Relatively much use is made of youth care in Leiden and Leiderdorp. The municipal councilors would like to know more about the functioning of the help that is offered to children and their parents.
In order to gain a better insight into Leiden youth care, the municipal council wants to invite not only children and their parents, but also people who actually do the work, and not just people from management. “As a city council, we can simply invite people for whom we as city council determine the policy. They can tell us how that policy will turn out and what their problems and wishes are,” said councilor Antoine Teeuwen (SP) on Thursday evening.
The chair of the ‘Education and Society Committee’ Marleen Schreuder (GroenLinks) points out that the city council can organize this itself: “No motion is needed.” The proposal to organize a hearing with clients and experts by experience received broad support from all parties on Thursday evening. Whether the hearing will only be about the functioning of the youth teams in the Leiden region or more broadly, the entire youth care, will be determined later by the city council.
The municipalities and its social partners are jointly responsible for the implementation of youth care. At the beginning of 2022, the city council received a critical investigation report: ‘Youth help without referral’. The report, which specifically deals with youth teams and access to youth care, states that the municipality has no insight into the costs per child, and that the effectiveness of the assistance is unknown. The municipal council received an accompanying letter with conclusions and recommendations from the Court of Audit.
These recommendations have been adopted by the municipal executive, according to alderman Paul Dirkse (D66). However, the audit of the audit office was carried out while all kinds of improvements were already underway, so that it does not reflect the current situation. The City Council now wants to get a grip on the current state of affairs. A hearing in which those involved are heard can help with this. The hearing on youth care will take place after the summer.