Care module (part of Ritax LIJ)

Child Protection Board

The Care Module is an LIJ tool and part of the Ritax. With it, a professional identifies concerns about the home situation. The instrument identifies the number of care factors. Afterwards, the Child Protection Board and/or the Youth Probation Service can weigh up whether professional help is needed, in addition to any punishment or the criminal justice process.

Last change on 3rd of December 2025, at 13:14 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Impactful algorithms
• Impact assessment: DPIA
• Status: In use

General information

Theme

Law

Begin date

2024-10

Contact information

[e-mail]

Responsible use

Goal and impact

The RvdK provides criminal advice to the public prosecutor and the juvenile court for young people aged 12 to 18 who are suspected of committing a crime. The RvdK uses the risk assessment tool the Ritax during the investigation to provide the most appropriate punishment advice for the young person. The RvdK investigator talks to the young person, parents and often to school. With this information, the Ritax questionnaire is completed. After completing this, the Module Care is applied where more insights about the child are given.

The aim of the Care Module is to identify concerns about the adolescent's growing up and/or parenting situation. This is done based on the picture from the completed Ritax. This enables the council investigator to use an objective test to assess whether additional help and/or measures are needed in the civil context, parallel to the criminal proceedings. The RvdK draws up a report, including the results of the Care Module. This report is given to the young person, the parents, the juvenile court and the public prosecutor.

Considerations

Research shows that an estimate based on professional judgement as well as the results of a scientific instrument is better than one based solely on the experience of the researcher. The calculation model behind the Care Screening Module is based on scientific research into the relevance of the items in the Ritax tool in determining whether or not severe resources such as a youth protection measure or youth assistance with stay should be deployed. The outcome of the Care Module is used by the council investigator to arrive at an advice on the young person's parenting safety.

Human intervention

The use of Module Care always involves human intervention. The RvdK researcher checks the outcome of the Module Care and checks whether it corresponds to the young person's own impression and situation. In consultation with a colleague ('4 eyes principle'), the researcher makes the final choice for the most appropriate advice for the young person.

Risk management

The effectiveness of the Care Module is periodically tested scientifically. The results of these tests are verified by an independent scientific committee. The Care Module is only used by authorised, trained staff, and can only be used if a Ritax is taken. Only relevant staff from the RvdK can look at the outcomes of the Ritax and the Care Module in the system. This is because of the young person's privacy. If necessary, these results are shared with judicial organisations such as juvenile probation and correctional institutions.

Legal basis

The basis for the use of Ritax lies in the legal duties of the RvdK. The duties that apply when using Ritax are set out in the Criminal Code (Sr) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Sv). The advisory task in the event of a behaviour-influencing measure is described in article 77w, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code, the advisory task in the event of detention and early help is described in article 490 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the advisory task in criminal cases of juveniles is described in articles 494/494a/498 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Links to legal bases

• Section 77w(2) of the Criminal Code: https://wetten.overheid.nl/jci1.3:c:BWBR0001854&boek=Eerste&titeldeel=VIII_A&artikel=77w&z=2023-10-01&g=2023-10-01
• article 490 Sv: https://wetten.overheid.nl/jci1.3:c:BWBR0001903&boek=Vierde&titeldeel=II&afdeling=Tweede&artikel=490&z=2023-10-01&g=2023-10-01
• Articles 494/494a/498 Sv: https://wetten.overheid.nl/jci1.3:c:BWBR0001903&boek=Vierde&titeldeel=II&afdeling=Tweede&artikel=494&z=2023-10-01&g=2023-10-01

Impact assessment

Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)

Operations

Data

The Care Module uses personal data of the young person, and if necessary of persons in the young person's household, including special and criminal personal data. These data are only requested if they are necessary for the analysis for the Ritax. Thus, the Care Module does not request additional information compared to the Ritax.

The young person's data include: name, criminal justice number (SKN), date of birth, psychological and health problems, physical problems, whether medication use is directly related to a diagnosis, other person-related problems, description of relevant context factors and expected impact of intended intervention.

- Data of persons from the adolescent's household concern: whether there is a judicial/detention history, whether there are relevant psychological and health problems, physical problems, or person-related problems, description of relevant context factors and expected impact of intended intervention.

- Third-party data include: name, address and contact person of school and, if applicable, of other organisations involved, such as assistance agencies.

Technical design

The RvdK researcher does not complete any questions for the Care Module. Based on the completed Ritax items, the Care Module identifies to what extent there are concerns about the young person's growing up and/or educational situation.

For the Ritax, all questions are completed by clicking on a bullet. Points (0 = no care factor, 1 = care factor) are associated with the Ritax questions that also apply to the Care Module. The choice of scoring is scientifically based. The Module Care lists the scored concerns per domain. These points are assigned to risk groups, depicted in a flag with the colours 'green', 'yellow' or 'red' as the outcome. Extensive scientific analyses determine when the flag gives 'green'/'yellow'/'red' about the number of concerns about the young person's growing up and/or parenting situation. The RvdK researcher is asked to give an opinion as to whether the outcome is in line with the staff member's and third parties' perception of the young person's situation, and whether action has been taken. This substantiation is included in the reports.

External provider

The tool was developed by the University of Amsterdam. The Module Care system by Justid.