Youth care and privacy

In order to help young people and families as best as possible to find appropriate help, the Youth and Family Assistance (JGH) department of the municipality must collect and store a number of personal data. These include the name, address and date of birth of the young person and their family, as well as reports of conversations. The data can come from, for example, the young person and their family, from school, from other youth care institutions, from the Child Protection Board and from the court.

Client rights

A client has various rights when it comes to the processing of his personal data. For example, the right to inspect his own file. The page Privacy statement municipality of Zoetermeer describes what the rights of a client are with regard to privacy and how you can exercise those rights. There are a number of specific additions to this for youth care.

A client aged 12 or older can request Youth and Family Assistance to view his or her data from the file. In addition, the legal representative has the right to view data of his or her child, if the child is not yet 16 years old.

Not all data from the file can be viewed. The municipality will not provide access to the file if this is in conflict with the interests of your child. Access can also be refused if the file contains privacy-sensitive information about other persons (for example an ex-partner). The permission of that other person is required to view this data.

Providing information to others

The municipality may share the data recorded about a young person with others in a number of cases. This only happens if it is necessary for the execution of the legal tasks of the municipality. The municipality will never share data about a young person or their parents with others without good reason.

How long is data retained?

After the file is closed, the municipality is legally obliged to keep files for 20 years. In exceptional cases, the term may be extended due to personal circumstances.