Behind the front door: experiences with youth care in view
From the end of 2024, the municipality of Kerkrade will work with a renewed approach in youth assistance. Our goal is clear: every child must be able to grow up safe and healthy and develop well. Sometimes this requires help. We want to match that help better to what families really need. To show what this change means, we made the film 'Behind the front door' in which counselors and parents talk about their experiences.
The film: a peek behind the front door
The film shows how our consultants work more often from the neighborhood, how we direct the implementation of assistance and how we work with families to see what is really needed. It is an honest story about how we work together to ensure that agreements are kept and goals are achieved.
Nicole Fintelman: her story in pictures and words
Nicole Fintelman knows how complicated youth care can be. For ten years she fought for appropriate help for her son with autism. "Agencies don't always cooperate. In everything I missed the voice of the child," she says in her interview. Those very signals led to this new approach. Nicole now sees bright spots: "It's about everyone working together for the sake of the child. That's what it's all about."
Why this change?
Research showed that help in practice sometimes deviated from what had been agreed on paper. As a result, goals were not always achieved and parents often felt insufficiently involved. Our consultants work more often from the neighborhood, so that we are closer to the families. This makes the help faster, more personal and better tailored to the situation at home. We conduct interviews at the family home, together with the parents and the care workers involved. Is everything going well? Then we plan follow-up appointments. Are there problems? Then together we look at how things can be improved. Sometimes this means that we switch to another care provider.
We believe that good youth care is not only about rules and agreements, but about trust, cooperation and results. That is why every day we are committed to learning, improving and connecting to what is really needed. Together we ensure a healthy, safe and promising future for every child in Kerkrade.