Children’s participation in Dutch youth care practice: an exploratory study into the opportunities for child participation in youth care from professionals’ perspective

This study examines how children participate in Dutch youth care decisions from the perspective of professionals. Since 2015, Dutch municipalities have been responsible for youth care, and child participation is supposed to be essential, but the study finds large differences between municipalities in how well they enable this. Children's participation is better regulated when court orders are involved in compulsory care, but most municipalities set the minimum age for participation at 12 years, leaving younger children with few opportunities to have a say.

Key points

• The Youth Act (2015) in the Netherlands assumes that mobilising and empowering families and enabling participation of children and parents is essential to implementing youth care services
• Substantial differences exist between municipalities in realising children's participation in decisions about their care and protection
• Municipalities have large discretion in shaping child participation in access to voluntary and coercive youth care
• Child participation is better regulated and implemented in compulsory youth care via court orders than in voluntary services
• The minimum age limit for child involvement in decision-making is typically 12 years, leaving younger children with scarce opportunities to participate

Limitations

This is an exploratory study examining professionals' perspectives on the legal opportunities and practical implementation of child participation, rather than directly assessing children's actual experiences or outcomes of participation. The study does not provide data on whether or how child participation affects the quality or effectiveness of youth care services.