The Langedijk municipality must destroy the youth aid file of a former resident and her son. This was determined by the North Holland court. The former resident had requested the destruction, but the municipality had refused. The municipality must now do so.
The former resident is the mother of a minor son. Care reports have been made about the son in recent years. Last year, the mother requested the municipality to destroy all data on herself and her son. The municipality refused on the grounds that it had a legal processing obligation. According to the rules, the youth aid file should be kept for 20 years, the municipality believes.
The mother feels that retention serves no purpose. According to the mother, no youth care was ever provided and the care reports made were never followed up. She feels it is important that the inaccurate information not take on a life of its own and can be used unnecessarily. According to her, keeping the data infringes too much on her privacy.
The judge ruled that the municipality misapplied the law and ruled against her. It is clear from the law that the youth care provider must destroy data from the file within three months if the person involved requests it. This is different if it is clear that keeping the data is of interest to others, but the municipality did not prove that in this case. Nor did the municipality find it necessary to demonstrate that.
The court does not understand how the municipality arrived at its interpretation that the youth aid file should always be kept for 20 years. Consulting professional literature and various previous rulings, the municipality could have concluded that it applied the law incorrectly. The court has the impression that a situation has arisen at the municipality whereby proceedings with the mother are now all about being right and the municipality has lost sight of the content.
