Cooperation Between Safe Home and Municipalities in Zuid-Limburg:Gaps in the Approach to Child Abuse

Since January 2015, Safe Home [in Dutch: Veilig Thuis] is the national reportcenter for child abuse and domestic violence. The task of Safe Home and itspartner organizations is to stop child abuse and domestic violence. The Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model states that to reduce the chance for harmfulbehaviors in the future, relevant risk factors should be addressed in individualcases. Offered treatment programs should also be attuned to these riskfactors (which is known as risk-based care). The offered risk-based care doesnot always correspond to the request of the family in question.In the current study the main question was how it is determined which treatmentprogram or care is offered by the municipalities to families after theinvestigation of Safe Home is completed and a case is transferred to the localmunicipality. We interviewed professionals from six municipalities in the regionof South-Limburg about the use of structured risk assessment tools andthe effectiveness of offered treatment programs. We found that the choicefor certain treatment programs is mainly based on the family’s request (andnot risk-based, as suggested by the RNR-model). Moreover, the municipalitiesmake limited use of risk assessment tools that meet scientific standards.In order to stop child abuse in the long term, a radical change is needed inthe approach of child abuse cases. We offer several recommendations, includingthe use of scientifically validated risk assessment tools and a closercooperation and exchange of information between Safe Home and its partnerorganizations