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Health Inspectorate Opens Inquiry Into Abuse at Northern Netherlands Foster Home

The IGJ opened a probe in response to severe harm to children.

Overview

  • The Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) launched its own investigation to assess the care provided and whether youth-care organizations acted adequately.
  • A juvenile judge in Groningen deemed two children’s accounts credible and the pair were removed from the home after reporting years of mistreatment.
  • The children described regular beatings, forced farm labor such as clearing dead animals and mucking out pens, food being withheld as punishment, and being blocked from seeing a doctor after a dog bite.
  • The William Schrikker Stichting confirmed that children had been removed from the same home several years ago, after which the foster parents completed training and were allowed to resume placements.
  • The foundation also reported a separate Vlaardingen case in which a foster girl suffered fractures and brain injury requiring lifelong care, while IGJ and IJV had earlier warned that staff shortages and system design limit oversight of child safety.