Experts say child abuse case in Stadskanaal was systematic
In the media image: David Griffiths on Unsplash
The Dutch Public Prosecutor is investigating two mothers from Stadskanaal who are suspected of severe child abuse. Mariëlle Bruning, Professor of Children and the Law, commented in news outlets about the case and similarities with the abuse case in Vlaardingen.
The Public Prosecution Service in the Netherlands has launched a criminal investigation into two mothers from Stadskanaal who are suspected of seriously assaulting a six-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy. Files from the Child Protection Board, which have been submitted to the juvenile court, show that the children were locked up and humiliated, and the abuse was even filmed.
The case is similar to that of the severely abused foster girl from Vlaardingen. Although the criminal case against the two women from Stadskanaal has yet to begin, experts say that similar patterns of structural and systematic abuse appear to be emerging. However, during the period of abuse in Stadskanaal, care workers mainly observed isolated signals and failed to recognise a coherent pattern. As a result, it is possible that the severity of the situation was noticed too late.
According to Mariëlle Bruning, it is striking that in both cases multiple reports were indeed made. She believes that faster action, such as removing the children from the home, would have been an obvious intervention. ‘There were clear warning signs in both cases: from the school, the GP, and even after a hospital admission,’ says Bruning. ‘Yet these reports were not acted on, in this case probably stuck in the system at Veilig Thuis [Safe at Home, a network of regional agencies for reporting and addressing domestic and child abuse]’.
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Read the full NOS article
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(All in Dutch)