Youth care
In the Netherlands, through the Youth Care Act young people and parents get support for problems with growing up and parenting. This act is aimed at children who need more support than their parents can offer. This includes young people who end up doing criminal things. Youth care offers voluntary support for mental, social and pedagogical problems which hinder the development of children, but also forced interventions.
At the beginning of April 2010 the Dutch government presented its position paper that offers solutions for persistent bottlenecks that were identified in the evaluation of the Youth Care Act. In order to organize youth care as well and as simply as possible, the government position paper places the administrative responsibility for youth care with the municipalities. Currently, this is a responsibility of the provincial government. The municipalities will have to organize assistance and care for juveniles and their parents and combine this with other measures such as assistance at school, job counseling and debt counseling. In the government position paper, the Youth and Family Centre (in Dutch: Centrum voor Jeugd en Gezin – CJG) will become the axis of all youth care and assistance. Parents and juveniles will then no longer have to choose where to go with their questions and problems.