Development integrated youth policy has priority
On May 23rd, 2013 the study "Koninkrijkskinderen" (Children of the Kingdom), written by UNICEF, was presented to the Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations, Ronald Plasterk. The presentation took place during a symposium in Leiden, where representatives of youth care and education from the Caribbean Netherlands were present.
The various parties that are involved in youth care and youth policy in the Caribbean Netherlands have taken note of the content of this study.
The Public Entities of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, Centers for Youth and Family, the Guardianship Council, Youth care and Family Guardianship, Ministry of Security and Justice (V&J) are working closely in the field of youth and youth care. They find it important to stress that they, together with other relevant partners such as the Ministries of Social Affairs and Labour (SZW), Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK), work on integral youth policy, in which the position of the children is structurally improved.
The focus for the youth rests, as far they are concerned, on providing good basic services. They recognize that not everything is there, what should be there. The organizations want to work together on the basis of common priorities to develop and execute a multiannual plan with focal points.
The coming few years they will focus among other things on the further improvement of the youth health care, providing educational support to parents of teens, strengthening of sexual education, guiding teenage mothers, reaching parents in the neighbourhoods through neighbourhood mothers and a balanced approach of child abuse.
In good cooperation between all parties involved, significant improvements in facilities were already realized in recent years. These include the founding of Centers for Youth and Family, training positive parenting programme (Triple P), improving leisure facilities for young people from 12 years, developing youth care, improving the family guardianship, reinforcing the Guardianship Council and setting up the youth rehabilitation. The approach is especially to continue on this path and to achieve improvements in basic care for youngsters step by step.