From now on, the Child Protection Board will be prepared for the Hague court

From 1 May, the Child Protection Board will be prepared in all cases to the court of The Hague. The council and the court decided that after NRC last week had unveiled That the council had not studied the file in a large number of cases before the hearing for years. That was « impossible » and « not necessary ».

This practice sounded fierce criticism from family law experts in the Hague district. They pointed out that crucial information is lost if council workers only base themselves on what is discussed during the hearing and not reading the underlying file. Following the NRC-Faith Bruyning (NSC), Don Ceder (ChristenUnie) and State Secretary for Legal Protection Teun Struycken asked for clarification for clarification.

The Child Protection Board has an important legal advisory function. As an official expert, he advises on the interests of the child – for example in cases of parental authority and access arrangements. In contrast to the rest of the Netherlands, council workers in The Hague will only be prepared for the court in heavier cases.

Children

According to the Child Protection Board and the court, the current working method stems from the introduction of the uniform aid offer in 2019 in The Hague. This is a collaboration between courts and municipalities with the aim of offering appropriate help to parents and children in conflicting divorces and access arrangements, to prevent further escalation and lingering lawsuits.

The uniform aid offer has been introduced nationally, but differs locally because of the decentralization of youth care. In The Hague, according to the court, the Council found that it is impossible and unnecessary to read the file. In hundreds of sessions annually, the Council therefore comes to court uninformed.

Family lawyers expressed about this NRC And criticism on social media. In one message The court calls The Hague those objections on Wednesday « an important signal that we take seriously ». In consultation with the council, it was decided to revise the working method on 1 May. « From now on the council representative has read all the documents before he comes to the hearing. »

The council also confirms the new working method on its own website. « The agreement is that from now on we will receive and study all relevant documents in each session, just like in the rest of the country. »

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