The right of citizens to make a plan first is voted into the Child Protection Act (CPA)
When official intervention is imminent, ask parents and their family and friends to make a plan of support before control is taken over by social care workers. An amendment (no. 32 015) to this effect , by member of parliament Joël Voordewind (Christenunie) was accepted unanimously by the Tweede Kamer (House of Commons) in the Netherlands.
Through this change in law, the offer based approach in youth care is replaced by the right and the obligation of citizens to draw from their own sources first. Parents and children get the opportunity to remain in control of their own lives. Experience with and research into Family Croup Conferencing show that people are willing and able: the plans they make have proven to be safe.
For social care workers, these plans become the starting point for the services and care to be provided. Because the plans have been construed by the clients themselves, with support from their own social network, the support to execute the plan is usually great. Until now, this work method depended on the approval of a care organization, the government, or an individual social care worker. Now, the law gives social care workers a mandate to approach the family group first when making a support plan for children.
The next step will be to implement this law the right way.
