10 MAI 2007. - An Act to approve the cooperation agreement of 13 December 2006 between the Federal State, the Flemish Community, the French Community, the German-speaking Community and the Joint Community Commission on the organization and financing of the parental internship established in the Youth Protection Act, the care of minors who have committed a crime and the compensation of the damage caused by this fact (1)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. It is assented to the Agreement on Cooperation of 13 December 2006 between the Federal State, the Flemish Community, the French Community, the German-speaking Community and the Joint Community Commission on the Organization and Financing of the Parental Internship established in the Law on the Protection of Youth, the Care of Minors who have committed a crime and the Compensation of Damage caused by this fact.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 10 May 2007.
ALBERT
By the King:
The Minister of Justice,
Mrs. L. ONKELINX
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Mrs. L. ONKELINX
____
Notes
(1) 2006-2007 session:
Senate.
Documents. - 3-2086 - 001: Bill. - 3-2086 - 002: Report.
See also:
Annales. - 22 March 2007.
House of Representatives.
Documents. - 51 3019 - 001: Project transmitted by the Senate. - 51 3019 - 002: Report. - 51 3019 - 003: Text adopted in plenary and subject to Royal Assent.
See also:
Full report. - 24 and 25 April 2007.

Agreement on cooperation between the Federal State, the Flemish Community, the French Community, the German-speaking Community and the Joint Community Commission on the organization and financing of the parental internship set out in the Law on the Protection of Youth, the Care of Minors who have committed a crime and the Compensation of Damage caused by this fact
See articles 127, § 1^er, 2°, 128, § 1^er, 130, § 1^er and 135 of the Constitution;
Considering the special law of 8 August 1980 of institutional reforms, including Article 5, § 1^er, II, 6°, amended by the special law of 8 August 1988, and article 92bis, § 1^erinserted by the special law of 8 August 1988 and amended by the special laws of 16 July 1993 and 13 July 2001;
Considering the special law of 12 January 1989 on Brussels institutions, including Article 63;
Having regard to the law of 31 December 1983 of institutional reforms for the German-speaking Community, including articles 4, § 2, and 55 bis, inserted by the law of 18 July 1990 and amended by the law of 5 May 1993;
Having regard to the Act of 8 April 1965 on the Protection of Youth, Care for Minors who have committed a crime and compensation for the damage caused by this fact, including articles 29bis and 45bis, inserted in the laws of 15 May 2006 and 13 June 2006;
Having regard to the decrees of the Flemish Community on special assistance to youth, coordinated on 4 April 1990, as amended by the decrees of 21 December 1990, 19 December 1991, 25 June 1992, 4 May 1994, 15 July 1997 and 7 May 2004;
Having regard to the decree of the French Community of 4 March 1991 on Aid for Youth, as amended by the decrees of 16 March 1998, 6 April 1998, 30 June 1998, 5 May 1999, 29 March 2001, 31 March 2004, 12 May 2004 and 19 May 2004;
Having regard to the decree of the German-speaking Community of 20 March 1995 on Aid for Youth, as amended by the decrees of 4 March 1996, 20 May 1997, 23 October 2000, 3 February 2003 and 1^er March 2004;
Considering that structural cooperation between the federal State and the communities is required to organize the parental internship;
Come on.
1. The Federal State, represented by its Government in the person of Laurette Onkelinx, Minister of Justice;
2. The Flemish Community, represented by its Government in the person of Yves Leterme, Minister-President, in the person of Inge Vervotte, Flemish Minister of Welfare, Public Health and the Family and in the person of Franck Vandenbroucke, Vice-Minister and Flemish Minister of Employment, Education and Training;
3. The French Community, represented by its Government in the person of Marie Arena, Minister-President and Minister of Education and in the person of Catherine Fonck, Minister of Children, Youth and Health;
4. The German-speaking Community, represented by its Government in the person of Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Minister-President and in the person of Bernd Gentges, Vice-President, Minister of Training and Employment, Social Affairs and Tourism;
5. The Joint Community Commission, represented by the College meeting in the person of Charles Picqué, Chair of the College meeting, in the person of Pascal Smet, the member of the College meeting, responsible for the Policy of Aid to Persons and the Public Service and in the person of Evelyne Huytebroeck, the member of the College meeting responsible for the Policy of Aid to Persons, Finance, Budget and External Relations;
based on their respective competencies, the following was agreed:
CHAPTER I^er. - Introductory provision
Article 1^er. This cooperation agreement covers the parental training referred to in articles 29bis and 45bis of the Act of 8 April 1965 on the protection of youth, the care of minors who have committed a crime and the compensation of the damage caused by this fact, as amended by the Acts of 15 May 2006 and 13 June 2006.
CHAPTER II. - Organization of parental training
Art. 2. Parental training is organized exclusively by the Communities or by the services designated by them. Each Minister of a Community or Joint Community Commission who is competent for the protection of youth shall communicate to the Minister of Justice what services are responsible for the execution of the parental internship.
The Communities undertake to execute the decisions of the judiciary concerning the parental training, if the language of the procedure corresponds to that of the Community concerned. However, if the language of the procedure is different from that of the parents, the services dependent on the Community whose language of reference is that of the parents, cannot refuse the execution of the parental internship in that language of reference for the sole reason of the language of the procedure and this, provided that the parent has a family, social, cultural or educational relationship with that Community, in the best interests of the young person.
Art. 3. The purpose of the parenting course is to increase the awareness of those who exercise parental authority over the minor about the offender behaviour of the minor, to inform them, by coaching them, of their obligations as responsible for the education of their children and to stimulate their sense of responsibility. Parenting should be dictated by a motivating approach that avoids stigmatization.
The parental internship includes an individualized phase and a collective phase. The follow-up journey is developed individually or collectively.
Each parental internship file is an average of 50 hours and includes at least one preparation, contact with the person subject to the parental internship and a report. Contact with the person subject to the parental internship takes at least 30 hours.
In addition to the implementation of the parental internship, the services also develop a methodology and an intervision.
Each Minister of a Community or the Joint Community Commission who is competent for the protection of the youth shall transmit the program developed for the parental internship and each subsequent amendment of the latter to the Minister of Justice for information. This program ensures that all services provide content similar to the parenting course. This, however, does not prevent communities from using a methodology that is specific to them to give content to the parental internship. The methodology developed by each Minister of a Community or Joint Community Commission who is competent for the protection of youth is communicated to the Minister of Justice for information.
The services organizing the internship include:
- organization of the parental internship.
In terms of content, it must at least understand the following aspects:
• teaching skills and problem solving;
• responsibility for education;
• criminal liability;
• civil liability.
- inform the competent judicial authorities on the start of the parental training;
- writing at the conclusion of the parental internship, a report to the competent judicial authorities. The report is discussed with the parents. They are invited to make comments which are attached to the report.
- preparation of an annual activity report including a specific component on quantitative and qualitative data on organized courses. This annual activity report is supplemented on the basis of a model form developed by the Communities and communicated to the services organizing the parenting course, with a view to obtaining a uniform registration of the evaluation criteria. This standard form allows the data provided to remain anonymous.
- certification that parents participated in the internship. This certificate is given to the parents concerned.
Each Minister of a Community who is competent for the protection of youth annually transmits an activity report on the services that organize the parental internship to the Minister of Justice. This report includes a specific component on quantitative and qualitative data on organized courses.
Art. 4. Parental training may be offered to parents by the King's Prosecutor. The prosecutor may charge the prosecutor's criminologist to direct the parents to the department responsible for performing the parental training.
If the parents have followed a parental training course on the King's Prosecutor's proposal, the final report on the internship is provided to the prosecutor's office.
In this case, the final report states:
- dates and times of appointments;
- absences without force majeure;
- the arrest of the parental internship by the persons concerned;
- any other information as long as it has collected the agreement of all concerned persons.
Art. 5. Parental training may be imposed on parents by the youth court. In this case, social services near the youth court are informed.
A final report is provided to the youth court.
In this case, the final report states:
- dates and times of appointments;
- unjustified absences;
- the arrest of the parental internship by the persons concerned;
- any other information as long as it has collected the agreement of all concerned persons.
CHAPTER III. - Funding for the parental internship
Art. 6. § 1^er. The Minister of Justice undertakes to fully fund the implementation of the parental internship.
This funding is calculated, for the period from entry to service organizing the parenting course until December 31, 2008 on the basis of the subsidizing of a service consisting of a Bachelor ETP and a Master of 0.5 ETP for 35 files on an annual basis (80,000 euro /year).
For this period, the grant is monthly based on the following amounts:
Flemish Community: (80,000 x 14) x 1/12;
French Community: (80.000 x 13) x 1/12;
German-speaking community: 80,000 x 1/12.
The amounts mentioned in this cooperation agreement are indexed annually on the basis of the evolution of the health index of the previous year as follows:
(basic amount x new index)/basic index
The base index is the one in force in December 2006.
The new index is the one that will be in force every time at 1^er January of the following years.
Each community freely distributes its services in the boroughs, provided that this distribution guarantees an effective and equivalent offer and sufficient territorial proximity.
For Brussels, at least one French-language service and a Dutch-speaking service are planned.
The Communities will necessarily hand over to the Minister of Justice no later than 1^er February 2008 an evaluation of the number of parent placements that will have been offered during the year 2007, as well as the percentage of fully completed parent placements. For interrupted courses, the time of the interruption and the reasons for the stop will be communicated.
This quantitative assessment takes place every year in February. This evaluation is based on the number of courses started.
The average is calculated for each Community. For the Flemish Community, this involves for the first evaluation for all the services involved, 14 x 35 parent placements on an annual basis. For the French Community, this involves 13 x 35 parent placements on an annual basis. For the German-speaking Community, this involves 1 x 35 parent placements on an annual basis.
This calculation is based on the recognition of at least one Dutch-speaking service and at least one French-speaking service in Brussels. The German-speaking Community can conclude a cooperation agreement with the French Community for the care of parenting courses.
For the year 2009, funding will be limited to parental internship funding offered at EUR 2.286 per parent placement.
The number of courses will be calculated on the basis of the average number of parent placements completed during the 3 months of 2007 during which the largest number of parent placements were initiated.
÷ from January 2010, the calculation of the workload will take place annually according to the actual number of parent placements throughout the calendar year prior to the previous year.
If there is an assessment that the services put in place must be reorganized, this development will ensure the quality of the parental internship in all districts. The competent Ministers of the Communities agree in this respect with the Minister of Justice, without the cost of a parental internship exceeding the amount of EUR 2.286.
§ 2. The Minister of Justice undertakes:
1° for the year 2007, to be paid to the Communities anticipation of the total amount agreed within two months of the coming into force of this cooperation agreement.
2° from 2008, to pay the total amount to the Communities each year, for 1^er March at the latest. An annual assessment, as explained above, of the parent placements carried out, determines the funding and sets out the number of parent placements in the following fiscal year that begins in January of the calendar year following that in which the evaluation takes place.
3° to be made available to all prosecutors 27 criminologists who will, among other things, have the task of proposing to the persons concerned a parental internship which is organized by the communities or services designated by them.
CHAPTER IV. - Final provisions
Art. 7. This cooperation agreement shall be concluded for a period of three years after its entry into force.
At the end of this period, this Agreement shall be amended annually unless it is denounced by one of the parties within a minimum period of nine months before the expiry of each current period, by registered letter to the other parties. In the event that the agreement is terminated by a party or the agreement is terminated against one of the parties, it continues to produce its effects between the other parts of the agreement.
Art. 8. An assessment of this cooperation agreement by the Parties shall be held no later than two years after its entry into force, and thereafter every two years.
This bi-annual qualitative assessment, at which the operation of the services concerned is reviewed, is made by an accompanying committee, composed of a representative by competent minister, who will render a notice to the Minister of Justice, who makes any meaningful decision. In this context, the number of internships interrupted and the circumstances of this interruption are inter alia examined.
Art. 9. In March 2009, it will be examined on the basis of the first working report, as referred to in article 4, paragraph 8, paragraph 4, if it is appropriate to extend the parental internship to other issues, such as that of school absenteeism, in cases where persons exercising parental authority demonstrate a disinterest characterized in respect of the systematic absenteeism of their child, do not contribute to this problem,
Art. 10. The competent ministers of each Party shall be entitled to jointly decide the disputes arising from the application of this Agreement.
Art. 11. This cooperation agreement is issued in full to the Belgian Monitor in the three national languages.
This cooperation agreement shall be effective on the same day as articles 5 and 11 of the Act of 13 June 2006 amending the legislation on the protection of youth and care for minors who have committed a crime, which insert new articles 29bis and 45bis into the Act of 8 April 1965 on the protection of youth, care for minors who have committed a crime and reparation for damage caused by this act.
Done in Brussels on 13 December 2006 in 5 original copies in French and Dutch.
A German translation of this agreement is carried out.
For the federal state:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. L. ONKELINX
For the Flemish Community:
The Minister-President,
Y. LETERME
The Flemish Minister of Welfare,
Public Health and the Family,
Ms. I. VERVOTTE
Flemish Minister of Employment,
Education and Training,
F. VANDENBROUCKE
For the French Community:
The Minister-President, Minister
Education and Social Promotion,
Ms. M. ARENA
The Minister of Childhood,
Youth and Health Assistance,
Ms. C. FONCK
For the German-speaking Community:
The Minister-President,
K.-H. LAMBERTZ
Vice-Minister-Chairman,
Minister of Training and Employment, Social Affairs and Tourism,
B. GENTGES
For the Joint Community Commission:
Chair of the College meeting
the Joint Community Commission,
Ch. PICQUE
Member of the College
competent for the Policy of Assistance to Persons and the Public Service,
P. SMET
Member of the College
competent for the Policy of Aid to Persons,
Finance, Budget and External Relations,
Ms. E. HUYTEBROECK