EUKN - Netherlands - Relief work for homeless children 2005

Relief work for homeless children 2005

Introduction

The Court of Audit carried out research in 2002, 2003, 2004 and now in 2005, into relief work for homeless children. In contrast to previous studies, the focus this time is not on bringing up to date the numbers of homeless children or on the reception facilities for homeless children, but on the provision of information and the joint agreements between provinces, municipalities and relief agencies.

Proposition

To what extent does the State Secretary have sufficient insight into (the reduction of) the problem of homeless children?

Description

Homeless children are, according to the definition of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports (VWS): young people up to 25 years old with multiple problems, who are homeless or residing in shelters. The Court of Audit has been conducting ongoing studies regarding homeless children for many years. The studies from 2002, 2003 and 2004 show that homeless children do not receive the care that they need. The amount of facilities provided remains less than the demand and the Court of Audit has indications that the number of homeless children is rising. According to the latest estimates from the Court of Audit report of 2004, the number increased from 4,694 in May 2003 to 4,994 in October 2004.

Conclusions

The Ministry of VWS indicated in November 2003 that the problem of homeless children would be used as a standard for the success of youth policy in general. The Court of Audit concludes that the structure of the information acquisition at this time is not such that the State Secretary of VWS has sufficient understanding of the scope of the problem of homeless children. The standard referred to by the State Secretary of VWS for the success of youth policy has thereby not been realised.

The Court of Audit also concludes that the chain of collaboration proposed by the State Secretary, which must ensure a better connection between the various child-welfare institutions and between the province and the municipalities, is still under development.

The State Secretary stated ahead of her response to the report on 19 December 2005 that the primary responsibility for a consistent approach to homeless children lies with the provinces and (city-centre) municipalities themselves.

Contact info

Netherlands Court of Audit
http://www.rekenkamer.nl/cgi-bin/as.cgi/0282000/c/start/file=/9282400/modules/z2fwe01

Publication date

20/12/2005

Project finished

Researcher

Netherlands Court of Audit (‘Algemene Rekenkamer’)

Links

Netherlands Court of Audit

Zwerfjongeren 2005 (PDF, Dut, 190 KB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Integration of social groups

Keywords

Young people