Joost Huijer on NPO television about the 'acceptable term' for out-of-home placement
Expert on child protection law at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 about children placed in care
On Tuesday 7 December 2021, the TV programme De Hofbar focused on out-of-home placements of children. UCERF researcher Joost Huijer was interviewed about the way in which the 'acceptable term' has been worked out in youth protection law. He discussed, among other things, how this term is determined in practice and which bottlenecks arise in the application of the acceptable term in view of the current implementation problems in youth welfare and youth protection.
What is an 'acceptable term'? Joost Huijer explains (from min. 5) that before 2015 the decision whether children placed out of home should go back to their parents or to a foster family, was often postponed for a long time. With the introduction of the 'acceptable term' they wanted to change this. However, it is not a legally defined term: the length of the period - intended to answer the question of where the child will grow up in future - is left to the implementation practice.
It is my contention that at the expiry of the acceptable term comes a new assessment moment.... As long as the system of Youth Care is not in order, the 'acceptable term' cannot function in a just way
For very young children, a maximum period of six months is now applied; for children older than four, a maximum of one year. "What happens immediately after an outplacement is crucial," says Huijer. "We now see - unfortunately - that good help is not available within the youth welfare system. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. The chance of a child returning to its parents is getting smaller and smaller, without parents and child having had a real chance to work on family reunification in some cases."
So is the law well drafted? "It is important to realise that even after a year it is possible to work on the return of the child to its parents - no matter how difficult. Some professionals use the acceptable term too rigidly. My position is: the expiration of the term forms a new assessment moment, including answering the question: Have we as a government been able to do what we need to do, and can the term possibly be extended (if it is not detrimental to the child). As long as the system of Youth Care is not in order, the acceptable term cannot function in a fair way."
See the NPO 2 website for the programme , broadcasted on 7 December 2021