News item | 15-04-2025 | 16:00
At the moment, vulnerable children and parents still have to wait too long for youth care. And that is not the intention. Certainly the most vulnerable children who need (high) specialist youth assistance, such as help with complex addiction problems or in a crisis situation. These children must be able to count on the government for help. The bill ‘improvement of availability of youth care’, which today has been adopted by the House of Representatives, is an important step towards better availability of this (high) specialist youth care. The bill is part of the Youth Reform Agenda, in which even more measures have been agreed.
State Secretary Karremans (Youth, Prevention and Sport): “The pressure on youth care is great, but it cannot be that children and families in the most vulnerable situations do not always get good care on time. This law must change. Good news so that the House of Representatives has taken the bill. I hope we can discuss this quickly in the Upper Chamber”.
Municipalities must work together
(High) specialist care is not always well purchased, because it is expensive and complex care. This is because only a relatively small group of children need this youth care. The knowledge is therefore so specific that often only a number of parties in the Netherlands offer it. For this reason, municipalities have been working regionally for years, but this regional cooperation differs greatly, also in what is purchased. As a result, it is not always clearly visible nationwide where there are vulnerabilities.
In this bill, municipalities are obliged to collaborate with other municipalities in the region in the purchase of (high) specialist youth care and it is prescribed what must be purchased jointly at a regional level. As a result, this care for rare and complex problems everywhere in the Netherlands becomes better available and we get a better view of the availability of care.
Less paperwork, more time for care
The law also ensures that municipalities and healthcare organizations spend less time on administration. By working together regionally, administration is saved at both the municipality and provider. This way there is more time left to really help children. The law is also the basis for working more uniform by, for example, registering everywhere in the same way. This way there will be more similar data, for example about waiting times. With this data, regions can be better compared and it becomes clear more quickly where things are not going well in youth care.
Clearer demands for financial administration
In addition, we see that youth aid providers still too often have their financial management in order. This can have negative consequences for the availability of youth care. The bill sets requirements for the financial administration of healthcare providers. This provides more certainty for youth care, now and in the future.
More insight into available (specialist) youth care
Finally, the duties of the current youth authority are laid down by law and will become part of the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa). The NZa also gets a new task in the availability of this specialist youth care. She is given the task- on the basis of more comparable data to also identify risks early so that municipalities and providers can take measures in time.