Inspectorate bans youth care provider Caterva from taking in new young people

The Inspectie Gezondheidszorg en Jeugd (IGJ), the health and youth care inspectorate, has issued Caterva with a formal order (aanwijzing) and banned it from admitting new young people. The ban stays in place until Caterva meets the standards for good and safe youth care.

Caterva provides children's residential care across the country to young people aged 8 to 23 with complex care needs, the IGJ says. It has until 4 March 2027 at the latest to comply. The inspectorate says it has too little confidence that Caterva can improve on its own. It will monitor compliance closely and may take further measures if needed.

Inspectors made unannounced visits on 25 August and on 2 and 3 September 2026 to seven residential locations and the head office. According to the IGJ, they had also visited in 2020 and 2024, and had received several signals about risks to young people's safety.

What inspectors found

The inspectorate found serious shortcomings in the quality and safety of care. It says Caterva uses restrictive measures with no legal basis, such as location tracking, locking front doors and checking rooms.

The IGJ also found that medicine management is unsafe, that Caterva does not deploy enough qualified supervisors suited to the young people's complex problems, and that it records and analyses incidents inadequately. In the inspectorate's assessment, Caterva does not offer a supportive environment or ensure a physically safe, homely setting, so young people do not get good and safe help.