Jan 29, 2024 at 5:04 am
Youth care must be better and cheaper, but I fear that the improvement plan will suffer from the 511 million euros budget cut planned by the outgoing cabinet. It is unclear how this money should be cut, while time is running out.
The problems in youth care have been serious for years. More and more children and young people are using youth care and care is therefore becoming increasingly expensive. In addition, children do not always receive the right care because they are on the waiting list for a long time. The workload for youth care workers is also high. The Youth Reform Agenda adopted last summer should improve conditions in youth care and save money.
The billion-dollar budget for youth care will continue to increase in the coming years, but municipalities will receive slightly less extra money every year. There are many concerns about this, because money must also be made available for the much-needed improvement of youth care. As a result, the planned savings for 2024 and 2025 have already been reduced.
But beyond that reform agenda, an additional saving of 511 million euros was included in the coalition agreement. And that amount has remained unchanged. The savings must be implemented in 2025, but it is still not clear how.
‘We have no idea what to expect’
The outgoing cabinet would come up with a plan for how that money could be saved. For example, consideration was given to shortening the duration of treatment or introducing a personal contribution by parents.
But there is still no real plan. So, according to GL-PvdA MP Lisa Westerveld, dark clouds hang over the budget for youth care. “There are still a cutback of 511 million euros on the books, but we have no idea what to expect from it.”
She requested outgoing State Secretary Maarten van Ooijen (Youth Care) to let us know before Monday’s consultation how these cuts should be achieved. You cannot simply shorten a treatment and a personal contribution can provide an additional barrier to asking for help. This goes against the right to youth care.
Westerveld will submit a motion during the debate on youth care on Monday to get the cuts off the table. “This cut has been hanging over the market for two years, without any clear reason. The children and people in youth care must be able to continue improving the system and that is why it must be scrapped immediately.”
Fear of even bigger problems
There are also calls from youth care and municipalities to take the cutbacks off the table. Youth care calls the cutbacks “a sword of Damocles over the reforms”. In a joint letter Youth Care Netherlands and the Cooperating Professional Associations of Youth, among others, say that they fear even greater problems in youth care.
“If crucial services disappear due to the lack of financing, children, young people and families will be on waiting lists even longer and it will become even more difficult to find suitable care at all.” And according to them, this can have “disastrous consequences”.
Nobody really seems to be waiting for the cuts, says Westerveld. Van Ooijen’s spokesperson cannot say much about the cuts because the State Secretary is working on the details. This substantiation will be sent before the legislative consultation, which starts at 10 a.m. on Monday.
2024-01-29 04:04:33
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