The leading discourse in the Netherlands on errors and mistakes is focused on cases that have resulted in fatal injuries. These have shocked the nation, sparked debate and inspired change. In the Netherlands, the most profound debate resulted from the death of 3-year old Savanna in 2004, the first case where an employee of the child protection agency was prosecuted for manslaughter by negligence. Over the years, the case of Savanna became an iconic part of the discourse on child protection policy, in which the term ‘Savanna-effect’ was used to refer to the shift by child care workers to risk-averse practices for fear of prosecution. Initiatives aimed at improving timely detection of children at risk, such as the reporting code of conduct (‘meldcode’) and the Reference Index for High-Risk Youngsters (‘Verwijsindex Risicojongeren’) were introduced. The discourse turned when critics claimed that the system focused too much on a fear of incidents, causing a disproportional number of children to enter out-of-home placements. This observation inspired the Youth Act 2015, which promotes the restoration and strengthening of the parents’ problem-solving abilities and responsibilities, and aims to reduce regulatory pressures on youth care professionals. This chapter reports on two studies conducted in the new child protection system: an analysis of Dutch reports on major calamities since 2015 and a media analysis of the same period. These studies indicate the current public discourse as well as the underlying problems that were identified by the Youth Care Inspection.
Beliefs About Children’s Memory and Child Investigative Interviewing Practices: A Survey in Dutch Child Protection Professionals from ‘Safe Home’
