Failures at foster care organisation Enver confirmed
image: Marina Shatskih on Unsplash
The Dutch Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) has found that foster care at stitching Enver is not up to scratch. Mariëlle Bruning, Professor of Children and the Law, spoke to public broadcaster NOS about these new findings.
Enver was one of the organisations responsible for the foster care of a 10-year-old girl from the Dutch town of Vlaardingen who was seriously abused by her foster parents. Last year, the girl was admitted to hospital with brain damage and bone fractures. The IGJ investigation report (available in Dutch only) states that the foster care provided by Enver 'does not meet the requirements to a large extent'. Staff do want to provide good foster care. However, according to the report, this is impossible due to their excessive workload.
The report states that guidelines and protocols are not properly observed, files are not in order and it is unclear whether foster children are spoken to without the foster parents being present. 'This report gives rise to questions and concerns about the current state of affairs in the Netherlands,' says Bruning. 'We already had concerns after reading the inspection report about the foster girl in Vlaardingen that there were more problems at this foster care organisation - this has now turned out to be true.'
More information?
Read the full NOS article (in Dutch)
Listen to the NPO Radio 1 item (in Dutch)