Mariëlle Bruning: more action needed to improve youth care
Policy plans state that children should be placed in secure youth care less often and for shorter periods. But this is problematic in practice.
Currently there are insufficient care places available, so that juvenile courts often have no other options, explains Professor of Children and the Law Mariëlle Bruning in Dutch newspaper Nederlands Dagblad (€).
'It is imperative that more action is taken to increase the number of non-secure care places and make these available.' The Netherlands has a duty under international law to make this effort, she continues. Placing a child in secure youth care is only permitted if ‘the purpose of the intervention cannot be achieved in a less drastic manner.'