Caribbean allowance parents don't feel heard

Caribbean allowance parents feel unheardOctober 31, 2023 | Melissa StamperDuped allowance parents on the Caribbean islands do not feel helped in their recovery. Parents drop out and it also discourages other parents who have not officially registered as victims yet. And that while the deadline for applying for recovery is rapidly approaching: December 31. Parents can still register with the Recovery Allowances Implementation Organization (UHT) until the end of this year. A special Support Team for Parents Abroad (OTB) helps Caribbean parents after registration and provides support in the recovery scheme. The OTB previously tried to reach allowance parents in Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten because the number is not fully understood yet. The affected Curaçao mother, Edbraynie Fox, thinks that most Caribbean mothers who, like her, studied and worked in the Netherlands during the period of the benefits scandal are also victims but probably do not know they belong to this group.

Fox fled to Curaçao with a debt of 190,000 euros. “I thought for sixteen years that it was my fault that it would be my legacy to my children.” No customization Earlier this month, the Tax, Surcharges and Customs Inspectorate (IBTD) stated that the current damage approach does not meet the “fair expectations” of seriously affected parents. Zunira de Windt, spokesperson for the group of dissatisfied Caribbean parents, also lacks understanding and customization in the recovery. “I was never asked what I need to get off to a good start.” For example, De Windt's car was in the garage for almost a year because provisional invoices don't take the local situation into account. Not everything can be found on the island and has to be imported, which costs more. “I have four children who have to go to school, so repairing a car is necessary. I can't go to work without a car either. It felt like my feet were broken, they don't understand that,” says de Windt.

De Windt fled the Netherlands in 2008 and 2016. Repaying 80,000 euros caused her to lose her home and almost her children. The current image is that these are lazy 'Antillean' mothers who are just giving birth, but they are mothers who studied and worked, Fox explains. “Every day you want to get up and you want to teach your children norms and values, but then you are opposed.” More stress. So the 'recovery' is more stressful than real help, according to these parents. Support on the islands is not the same as support in the Netherlands. For example, Caribbean parents receive established support for recovery not in euros but in guilders, which is less than their peers in the Netherlands. In addition, they do not come out with their case managers, e-mails are not answered and the handling of complaints is not easy either.” You already feel cheated and they just keep screwing you,” says one of the mothers. *Response from The HagueAukje de Vries, outgoing Secretary of State for Customs and Surcharges, regrets hearing that parents feel unheard. “It's actually important that parents feel heard from the national government after everything we did to them,” De Vries told the Caribbean Network during her visit to the islands last June. But complaints to the National Ombudsman, conversations with Radar, who is leading the project for recovery abroad., the Ministry of Finance and also with the Secretary of State last month have until nothing delivered so far. The concerns are not being addressed in this way, says the spokesperson for the Caribbean parents. “Everyone has worked hard to stay afloat, now we feel like we still have to fight for solutions. But parents get tired of that and don't want to fight anymore because they're labeled a whiner”. *Parents' names are known to the editors.Related Articles:Allowance scandal: 'Caribbean parents don't know how to find help yet'Actress Yuli Minguel creates a personal play about the benefits scandal