Limburg youth care reforms cut institutional stays, contracts extended for three more years
Fewer young people in Limburg are being placed in residential care facilities as new collaboration between youth care regions prioritizes home-based support. The successful approach, now extended, aims to keep families together while improving care quality and cost control.
| Key Data | Details |
|---|---|
| Regions Involved | North Limburg, Central Limburg East, Central Limburg West |
| Duration of Collaboration | 3 years (2023–2025), extended to 2029 |
| Impact | Fewer residential admissions, more home-based care |
| New Financial System | Fixed availability payment + variable service costs for municipalities |
| Start of New Agreements | 1 January 2026 |
| Key Stakeholders | Municipalities, youth care providers, Special Access (Bijzondere Toegang) |
| Annual Plans | Joint goals set by providers and municipalities |
The municipalities in Limburg are responsible for organizing and funding youth care services, ensuring that children and families receive appropriate support. This collaboration reflects their role in improving care efficiency, reducing unnecessary institutionalization, and fostering trust between local governments and care providers.
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Collaboration between youth care regions bears fruit
Over the past three years, the three youth care regions (North Limburg, Central Limburg East and Central Limburg West) have worked intensively together to improve youth care involving residential stays. This is care in which a child or young person does not sleep at home temporarily but lives in a youth care facility and receives treatment there.
Due to this new way of collaborating, the number of young people being admitted has clearly decreased. Young people with complex issues are now more often helped in their own living environment. After an extensive evaluation, the municipalities and youth care providers have decided to improve the agreements. They are also extending the contracts by three years, starting on 1 January 2026.
Why this extension?
Since 2023, municipalities and youth care providers have been working more closely together to help children as much as possible at home. This new approach ensures that fewer young people stay in institutions, that the number of residential days decreases and that more help is provided in the home environment. Collaboration has improved, mutual trust has grown and the joint access point – the Bijzondere Toegang (Special Access) – is now better at determining which type of help is most suitable.
New agreements
From 2026 onwards, new agreements will apply that ensure better quality and stronger collaboration:
- Clearer target group: the description of the target group has been refined so that children do not fall through the cracks.
- New financial system: municipalities pay a fixed amount for availability and an additional amount per service provided, giving them more control over costs.
- More frequent consultations and better quality monitoring: municipalities and providers meet regularly and discuss quality based on figures in new quality discussions.
- Annual plans: providers and municipalities jointly draw up a plan with concrete goals every year.
Positive development
This approach takes time, but we can see that it works. Increasingly more young people are receiving help in their own environment, meaning that intensive care is less often necessary. With the contract extension, we can maintain and further strengthen this positive development, together with our partners,
says alderman Huub van Helden.