Since municipalities are responsible for youth care, the number of youth care providers in Brabant has risen from 237 to 1092, according to figures from the Chamber of Commerce (Chamber of Commerce). As a result, municipalities have less view of all providers and the quality of care. Two regions in our province go back to fewer providers.
Jolanda Mathijssen is special professor of care for youth at Tilburg University. She knew there was an increase in the number of providers. “But that it is so big, to be honestly surprised me a bit.” A few years ago, a PhD student of Mathijssen did PhD research into youth care providers. “We noticed that it is super fragmented. If you are the one at the municipality who has to estimate which help best suits a child, then you must have a good picture of all those providers, but that is not possible.”
According to the special professor, the municipality can never keep an overview with this number of providers. “But the municipality has to pay. Do you help those families or do we mainly keep those organizations standing?” She wonders aloud.
Since 2015, municipalities have to purchase youth care, a task that they have taken over from the central government. For this, municipalities have united in so -called youth aid regions, within which they jointly purchase youth care. Our province has five of these regions. And these youth aid regions notice that the number of providers has increased considerably: in the last ten years the offer in Brabant has quadrupled.
A lot of rise
Since 2015, the number of youth care providers in the Netherlands has risen from 1367 to 8515, according to figures from the Chamber of Commerce (Chamber of Commerce). A youth care provider can be a large institution where hundreds of young people are helped, but also a family home or child psychologist.
The Healthcare and Youth Inspectorate (IGJ) has difficulty supervising the more than 8000 providers. This increases the risk of fraud and lesser quality of youth care providers.
According to the CBS, 1 in 7 children received youth care in 2023. During the turn of the century this was 1 in 27 children. The cabinet wants to reduce this to 1 in 10 children in 2028. Youth aid regions therefore try to organize youth care differently.
Region Hart van Brabant
According to Mathijssen, the large number of providers cannot be done for the Health Care and Youth Inspectorate, which is responsible for supervising all youth care providers. “They can hardly check the quality of all youth care providers and that ultimately affects those about: the children and families.”
In Jeugdshulpregion Hart van Brabant, Tilburg and the surrounding area, people are busy going back to fewer providers. “We have already gone from 140 to 60 providers, but this is only an intermediate step,” emphasizes Alderman Peter Kok of Health, Care and Culture of the municipality of Tilburg. This municipality is a cart -stretcher on behalf of Jeugdshulpregio Hart van Brabant, within which eleven municipalities work together.
In the Hart van Brabant region, when it comes to adult care, the Social Support Act (Social Support Act), they have already returned from two hundred providers to one. Within the WMO, all care is regularly for adults who need guidance in daily life.
That one provider has ten providers who receive a fixed annual budget of the municipalities to provide WMO care. “This way the financial incentive disappears and there is no market forces. With the aim of getting the right care at the right time with residents, that’s what it’s all about,” Kok explains. The Hart van Brabant region now also wants to apply this approach in youth care.
West Brabant-East region
Five municipalities work together in youth aid region West-Brabant-Oost (WBO) and there are contracts with around three hundred youth care providers. WBO is busy setting up so -called ‘sturdy local teams’, to improve cooperation and to bring care closer to people. “The goal is not necessarily to have fewer providers, we are dealing with a very big demand and a tight labor market. But if we want to collaborate better, fewer providers will be a logical consequence,” explains a project leader.
A shortage of employees, but a large number of youth care providers. “That is of course a bit crazy,” says special professor Mathijssen. “People want to work in the field, but a number of large organizations are structurally struggling with staff shortage. We have not yet investigated this, but it could be that some of the staff think ‘it must be otherwise’ and then to set up a business themselves, which means that more providers will come again.”
She calls the initiatives to come to fewer providers in youth care. “Our research showed that the range is super fragmented and that it is therefore difficult to determine whether good quality care is being provided.” She does not say that this is the solution. “Of course we don’t know that yet,” says the special professor. “But it’s a nice first step.”
In the Hart van Brabant region, the experiences with the switch to one provider within the Social Support Act are good. “As a result, care is much closer to the people,” says Alderman Kok. “As a result of which we see when things go wrong and scaling up or that things are going well and scaling, it is possible to offend. So that someone with whom the care on a lower level is not having to close when he or she needs more care.”