Youth assistance, what is it?

The municipality must provide youth assistance to minors and their families who experience difficulties in growing up and/or upbringing. To deploy specialized youth assistance, an indication from the youth consultant or a referral from a general practitioner (via the youth practice assistant), a certified institution, youth physician, or medical specialist is required. 

The most commonly used forms of specialized youth support are Youth Mental Health Care and Counseling. Youth Mental Health Care provides mental healthcare for children up to age 18 (and in certain cases up to age 23). It is intended for children who have mental health issues that hinder their development. Examples include symptoms of depression, fear of failure, severe worry, hyper behaviour, concentration problems, (signs of) autism, ADHD, and addiction.

Support is available for children up to the age of 18 who are unable, or insufficiently able, to cope with their disability or condition. The aim is to help your child achieve the highest possible level of independence through individual or group support. DE support can also focus on other family members, or on daily travel to day care facilities. Support is often part of a youth care package.

If you have a referral for youth services, you can find information about contracted youth service providers, types of specialized youth services, and availability on the Service Organization’s website: Health Holland RijnlandYouth Service Providers - Holland Rijnland (serviceorganisatiezorghollandrijnland.nl). This link also takes you to the availability guide:Availability Guide

How does it work?

If you have a child who needs assistance, you can submit an application via the notification form or contact the municipality's access team by phone. They can be reached by phone every working day between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM at 14071.

The access team will work with you to determine who can best assist you with your request for help. Following this discussion, there are three possible outcomes:

- The counselor will discuss with you that your request for assistance will be forwarded to the team of youth counselors because an assessment under the Youth Act regarding specialized Health is recommended.

-      DE consultant advises you to contact other services within our municipality that can support you with your request for help.

-      DE consultant determines that your request for help is complex or that it is not immediately clear which support best matches your needs. In this case, the consultant will bring your request to the application consultation meeting. This is a meeting where various organizations come together to discuss requests for help and determine which party is best suited to assist the applicant. The request for help is always discussed anonymously during this meeting. Once a clear recommendation has emerged from this meeting, the consultant from the access team will contact you by phone to share this advice.

Investigation into specialized support

If your request for assistance is forwarded to the youth counselor team for further review, a youth counselor will schedule a home visit with you at Make an appointment . During this home visit, the counselor will discuss your request for assistance at Map and determine whether assistance is needed and, if so, what type of assistance is most appropriate for your situation.

You will receive a report of this conversation. This report will state whether you are eligible for support and, if so, what kind.

What to do?

You can report your request for help regarding parenting, growing up, and/or psychological issues for your child to the municipality using the notification form on the website. Once you complete this form, we will call you within 2 working days to discuss your request and work with you to determine what is needed to address it. You can also call 14071 every working day between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM. You can then indicate that you have a request for help and will be transferred to one of our access consultants from the Social Service Team.

Youth assistance, submit a report now  

How long does it take?

General support can usually be provided immediately. If you have submitted an application for youth mental health care (jeugd-ggz), you will be notified as soon as possible whether you will receive the support. In principle, this process never takes longer than 8 weeks.

Did this information help you?