Possibly hundreds of children from families who were the victims of the allowance affair have been removed from their homes

The benefits scandal seems to have been pushed into the background for many. The first victims received 30 thousand euros from the government, and 70 thousand children have been promised compensation. But all's well that ends well, unfortunately, is out of the question.

When the figurehead of the benefit victims Kristie Rongen, known for her impressive performance in the election debate against Rutte, recently tweeted with dismay that the daughter of a benefit victim has been locked up in an isolation cell in a youth care institution since May, my interest was aroused.

According to Rongen and other victims, Youth Care also plays a controversial role in the so-called 'allowance families'. While it is precisely these care providers who should have stood next to parents.

I spoke to the mother of the girl who is currently in an isolation cell, Karin van Opstal. She is the mother of four children and a law student (HBO) when she was suddenly put on a fraud list by the tax authorities in 2006.

She has no idea why, as a student she is entitled to childcare allowance. But she has to pay back 56 thousand euros. Due to the harsh collection policy of the Tax Authorities (they are claiming 990 euros per month), she loses her house.

In 2009, heavily pregnant, she is evicted from her home and then wanders from address to address, staying and sleeping with friends and acquaintances. When she has given birth and her baby is ten days old, the child will be removed from her by Youth Care. In the weeks that follow, this also happens to her other children. Because she has no accommodation of her own, thanks to the tax authorities. It's a traumatic experience.

You would expect that social workers who have to help children in such a vulnerable family, stand next to a mother, and investigate the causes of her poverty and then aim their arrows at the tax authorities. How many families had been helped by this.

Instead, Karin's family is torn apart. The children end up in various foster families and institutions. Karin is initially allowed to see them for 1 hour every three months, an arrangement that was suspended a few years ago. Even her birthday cards are not delivered.

Her daughter Michelle, now 17, has been sent from foster family to foster family to institution since her custodial placement, as is so often the case, and eventually ends up in the Midgaard Youth Care Institution. There she becomes a victim of sexual abuse by an employee. The case is national news.

After making a number of suicide attempts, she is now locked up in an isolation cell at the Pluryn Youth Care Institution. She has rheumatism, but lies on a thin mattress and is often cold. But the solitary confinement is especially maddening. The intention was that the isolation cell in youth care would be abolished earlier, but this is not feasible due to staff shortages.

Karin's story is not unique. Benefit victims are increasingly uniting and both Rongen and Van Opstal suspect that hundreds of children have been removed from their homes. That in itself is not a bad idea, because children who end up in extreme poverty do not grow up in an environment that is considered safe.

It is a cynical realization that the costs of foster and institutional care alone for Karin's five children, more than ten years out of home, run into the millions. The costs for accommodation and treatment in an institution amount to between one and one and a half tons of euros annually, NRC Handelsblad calculated .

For children of the victims of the allowance affair who still do not live at home, this hell continues unabated. They not only earn money, but also help in finding their way in society and help in returning to their family. These children were snatched from their parents, brothers and sisters, while their parents did not abuse them. Only the government has done that.

Michelle's name has been changed for privacy reasons.

An earlier version of the column stated that 70,000 children received compensation. That is incorrect: they have been promised compensation.

.