Overview
- The Health and Youth Care Inspectorate ordered the Vleuten and Waalre care villas to close by 1 July after finding serious shortcomings in governance, staffing and continuity planning.
- Minister Mirjam Sterk told parliament no company produced a concrete, responsible takeover plan so the ministry will prioritise placing the 38 affected children, a position the ExpertCare clients' council disputes.
- Full inspection reports made public after ExpertCare lost a court challenge said the board acted too late, relied on temporary staff who could not safely deliver complex care, lacked a continuity plan and failed to keep parents properly informed.
- Some children still lack confirmed alternative placements and parents say remaining options in Rijswijk or Wezep are impractical because of long travel times and the children’s intensive medical needs, forcing families to cancel plans and provide 24‑hour care themselves.
- The closures expose wider problems in specialist respite care funding and recruitment, the clients' council has begun legal action to replace ExpertCare’s board, and the matter will face parliamentary scrutiny this week.