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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
leningsorganisatie in de Regio] 741 in the three-way consultation. From this consultation, it was subsequently
decided that the psycho-social provision of assistance to victims should be regarded as the dominant
topic. 742 The organisation of large-scale assistance was put into the hands of the Regional Medical Care
Organisations, Victim Support and the Netherlands Institute for Psychological Care and Addiction Care.
Much attention was devoted to involving and informing the parents of the children who may have been
involved. Although the organisations involved constantly endeavoured to put the needs of victims and
parents first, parents criticised the fact that they were not always the first to be informed about new facts
and circumstances. Tension arose between the Ministry of Justice and the municipalities regarding the
level of openness to be observed, and between the Ministry of Justice and the Regional Medical Care
Organisations regarding the extent to which discussions with victims could take place within the field of
the provision of assistance, taking the possible consequences of this for detection into consideration. 743
The organisation of the provision of assistance
The Amsterdam sexual abuse case also extended the three-way consultation to a four-way consultation,
in which the Municipal Health Service was involved in addition to the mayor, the police and the Public
Prosecution Service. This consultation prioritised the provision of information to parents and the
provision of assistance. Following careful preparation and selection over a number of days, the parents
were invited to closed meetings, where they were informed of the suspected abuse of their children and
were offered help. The case was only made public after this had taken place. 744 The Municipal Health
Service organised and co-ordinated the provision of assistance. The Sexual Abuse Support Centres of
the Municipal Health Service in Amsterdam supervised the process of the provision of assistance. The
actual assistance was provided by the Municipal Health Service departments Youth Health Care, Vangnet
Jeugd [Youth Safety Net] and Vangnet Advies [Advice Safety Net] and various regional assistance organisations
such as Arkin, the Netherlands Institute for Psychological Care and Addiction Care InGeest and
the Salvation Army. The trauma centre for <strong>Child</strong> and Family in Amsterdam, which was specialised in
abuse and maltreatment, was also involved in the case; this centre was set up by the Netherlands Institute
for Psychological Care and Addiction Care InGeest and the Academic Medical Centre, University of
Amsterdam. 745
In order to respond to questions that parents may have about changes to the behaviour of their child, or
physical or psychosomatic complaints, a central telephone number was opened, linked to a call centre. The
Municipal Health Service then took care of allocating the appropriate types of assistance. Individual diagnostics,
group treatment and individual treatment were offered to children, and personal supervision to
parents. The Municipal Health Service also informed all GPs about the main aspects of the case. All parents
who indicated that they required assistance were assigned a so-called family detective. This official from the
police was also able to put the parties involved in touch with the appointed care workers. The family detective
remained available for as long as the parents were involved in the criminal proceedings, and Victim
741 www.ggdhartvoorbrabant.nl (viewed 9 September 2011).
742 COT [Crisis Research Team], 2010.
743 It is feared that witnesses may be influenced; COT [Crisis Research Team], 2010.
744 Hoe de Amsterdamse Zedenzaak aan het rollen kwam [How the ball got rolling in the Amsterdam sexual abuse
case] Volkskrant, 17 March 2011.
745 Site of the Municipal Health Service in Amsterdam: www.gezond.amsterdam.nl (viewed 22 August
2011).