The Dutch child protection system: Historical overview and recent transformations

Although the Dutch child protection system has undergone several major transformations during the last three decades, for many years there has been a clear focus on serving the best interests of children, with the Convention on the Rights of the Child playing a key role. Great efforts are made to prevent child maltreatment or to intervene at an early stage. Large-scale prevalence studies have shown the epidemic scope of child maltreatment in the Netherlands. Both the high prevalence rates of child maltreatment and reviews of serious and fatal cases have led to significant refinements in procedures for identifying different forms of child maltreatment and for reporting. This chapter draws on the policy analysis developed for the research project Hestia, which compares policies and responses to child abuse and neglect in England, Germany and the Netherlands. The chapter begins with an historical overview of the policies and events which have shaped the current child protection system. Next, we describe in detail the present Youth Act 2015 and the scope and organization of the child protection system. In the final section, we formulate a conclusion and outline some challenges for the future of Dutch child protection policy and practice.