Record Children Hospitalized Due to Youth Care Shortage in Flanders

The number of children in Flanders who are being hospitalized because no place is available in youth care facilities has reached a six-year record. In 2025, 167 children were admitted to hospitals without medical necessity, up from 120 in 2024 — a 39 percent increase, according to VRT NWS. The largest group consists of babies and toddlers under 2 years old.

The figures were obtained by Flemish Parliament member Egbert Lachaert (Anders party) from Minister of Welfare Caroline Gennez (Vooruit). Youth judges are increasingly forced to place children in hospitals as emergency measures when no other option exists, even though hospitals are not equipped to provide the specialized care these vulnerable children need.

A Growing Crisis

The 2025 figure represents a troubling trend. Historical data shows 144 children hospitalized in 2020, 105 in 2021, 93 in 2022, 165 in 2023, and 120 in 2024. The Children’s Rights Commissioner (Kinderrechtencommissariaat) had already raised the alarm about the acute shortage of places in youth care, warning that children in unsafe home situations are often placed in hospitals as a last resort when no crisis placement is available, as reported by VRT NWS.

“Babies and toddlers sometimes lie in a hospital bed for weeks. Not for medical reasons, but for lack of an alternative. And no one systematically follows up on what happens to them afterwards,” Lachaert told Het Laatste Nieuws. “Hospitals are simply not equipped for this.”

The government does not centrally track what happens to these children after they leave the hospital. Lachaert called this lack of oversight “frankly unacceptable,” noting that Minister Gennez acknowledges no data exists on the children’s post-discharge trajectories.

A Systemic Failure

The hospital placements are symptomatic of a deeper crisis in Flemish youth care. Nearly 9,200 young people were on the waiting list for youth care at the end of 2024, up from 5,543 in 2019, according to VRT NWS. The waiting list grew by 8 percent in 2024 alone, reaching 9,154 young people.

The gravity of the situation was underscored in April 2026, when a Brussels court convicted the Flemish Community for failing youth care — the first time a court recognized a systemic crisis in the system. The landmark ruling came after a family whose son with severe behavioral problems was repeatedly denied a place in specialized care took the government to court, as reported by VRT NWS.

The consequences of these systemic failures can be devastating. In May 2025, an 11-year-old girl was raped while placed in a hospital due to lack of youth care places. The Brussels prosecutor’s office described the situation as “institutional abuse” and opened a criminal investigation into “culpable negligence,” according to VRT NWS.

“These are not just files, these are vulnerable children who don’t get protection and guidance at the moment they need it most,” said Willemien Baert of the Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office. “It is also not part of a hospital’s core tasks to take in minors who are in danger.”

Government Response and Criticism

Minister Gennez has announced several measures to address the crisis. She is investing 120 million euros extra in youth care this legislature, with 64 million euros going to additional care places. In June 2026, she accelerated this investment, moving up the call to the sector for new places to September, as reported by VRT NWS.

“Children should grow up in a safe and warm place. That is not the hospital, even though the staff there do their utmost to take care of children in need as best they can,” Gennez said. “With the new plan for youth care, we are focusing on measures that allow us to intervene faster when there is a concerning home situation. This starts with extra help and guidance before birth, so we can prevent crisis situations — and thus potential hospital admissions.”

The government has also launched a new digital crisis platform for foster care, designed to help find places faster for children who can no longer stay at home. The app connects the Databank Jeugdhulp with potential foster families across Flanders, as reported by PAL.

However, Lachaert argues the plan “lacks focus” and calls for priority for the youngest children. “We must focus on the most dire situations. Let’s give priority to those 167 children who deserve extra attention at the start of their lives.”

Sector Voices

The plan has also drawn criticism from within the sector. More than 700 staff and facilities sent an open letter criticizing the plan for focusing too much on control and monitoring rather than addressing staffing and operational resources. Working budgets for youth care facilities have not been indexed for 15 years, and staff have been waiting 16 years for new salary conditions.

Mattias Bouckaert, director of Ter Wende-Espero vzw, a youth care facility with 40 places, told VRT NWS that families currently wait about 11 months for care. “Waiting sometimes sounds too innocent, as if it’s a queue in a shop. We often feel like the fire brigade arriving when the forest has already burned down.” He added: “The plan doesn’t address staffing and operational resources. Without that, you can provide extra beds, but who is going to fill them?”

Professor Rudi Roose of Ghent University warns that the crisis goes beyond capacity. “Failure of youth care is about more than a shortage of places. It’s also about the logic within youth care itself,” he said. “Many families in youth care live in difficult financial circumstances. Then you especially need poverty reduction, not just more capacity.”

What’s Next

As the figures continue to rise, the pressure on Minister Gennez and the Flemish government to deliver tangible results is mounting. The accelerated investment in new care places is expected to yield results in the coming months, but sector experts remain skeptical about whether additional beds alone will solve a crisis rooted in systemic underfunding and structural challenges.

For the 167 children hospitalized in 2025 — and the many more who may follow — the question of where they will find a safe, warm place to grow up remains urgently unanswered. Lachaert, who sits on the Committee on Welfare in the Flemish Parliament, argues for better use of existing instruments alongside new resources. “Besides extra resources, we must especially make better use of existing instruments,” he said in the De Morgen report on the record figures. “So that the youngest children get a warm nest.”

With the waiting list continuing to grow and the sector calling for fundamental reform, the coming months will be critical in determining whether Flanders can turn the tide on a crisis that has left its most vulnerable children without a place to call home.