Some 22,500 people who suffered abuse while in the care of the authorities as children have been given compensation, figures from claims agency Schadefonds Geweldsmisdrijven show.

Most of the claimants had experienced ill-treatment in institutions, while some were abused in foster homes.

The compensation scheme was started two years ago and was aimed at people who were the victims of “extreme abuse” between 1945 and 2019, either by the people in charge or their peers.

All victims, regardless of the length or seriousness of the abuse, have received €5,000. The amount is not meant to reflect the cost of the damage suffered by the victims but as a recognition of what they have gone through. The state paid out a total of €111 million.

The compensation scheme was the result of an investigation carried out five years ago, which found that three-thirds of youngsters in care had suffered some form of abuse.

The report contained shocking examples of violence perpetrated against children in government care, head investigator Mischa de Winter said at the time.

“Some children were put into a home shortly after World War II because their parents were considered “anti-social”. When these children wet the bed their wet underpants were stuffed into their mouths for all to see and they were whipped with a belt. We heard these stories over and over again,” he said.

The claims agency initially expected some 2,000 people to come forward but in the event around 27,500 people put in a claim of which some 22,500 were accepted.

Most of the victims, who did not have to prove their case, are aged between 24 and 44 years of age and had suffered the abuse relatively recently. Around 100 are between 84 and 94 and another 100 are under 15.

Compensation schemes are seldom straightforward, De Winter told broadcaster NOS. “Money can help to recognise the grief caused by the abuse but for some, it is small comfort. The scheme is good in the sense that people did not have to come up with a lot of proof of the abuse. But on the other hand, a person who suffered a year of abuse gets the same amount as a person who had to put up with it for a decade.”

“The cabinet is working on preventing the children in care today from becoming the victims of tomorrow,” NOS quoted legal protection minister Franc Weerwind as saying.

Despite efforts to remedy the crisis in youth care, abuse still occurs. Earlier this week one of two hospital units where teenagers with complex psychiatric problems are cared for was being closed to new admissions after inspectors said there were serious problems with the way youngsters were being treated.