Child and youth care system
Key priority of youth policy in the Netherlands is the support for children and young people at risk and their families. This is organised in the child and youth care system, which legislative basis is the Youth Care Act 
.
Yearly, about 5% of all children and young people receive a type of youth care (± 160,000). Of these children and young people some 5,500 are supervised by the state and 25,000 receive residential care.
The child and youth care system has gone through many structural changes during the previous years. One of the key developments is the introduction of a Youth Care Agency in all of the 12 provinces. The Youth Care Agency is the access point to the youth care system. Young people and their parents can approach a youth care agency on their own accord, if local agencies are unable to support them with their problems. The office will then decide whether assistance is indicated.
The new law on youth care gives the youth care agencies a legal status. Each of the Netherlands’ provinces and major urban regions has an agency. To ensure easy access to the agency, there are also a number of field offices around each province. These annexes will be able to undertake some or all of the tasks of the main provincial agencies.
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