‘'PROBLEM CHILDREN DO NOT EXIST' - MEZZA
Illustration for an article about the book 'Probleemkinderen' that Bodine van Someren wrote about her traumatic experiences with youth care.
‘Two family guardians, thirteen psychologists and psychiatrists, four institutions, four diagnoses, ten police officers, and an equally impressive number of garbage bags with clothing, transfers, and case managers.'
In the second illustration, you see puzzle pieces that together form the portrait of a girl, without being attached to one another. These loose pieces are a reference to the way the protagonist in the article was approached: not as a child asking for care, but as a collection of separate problems and diagnoses.
In this context, the puzzle also serves as a symbol for the detachment caused by the numerous transfers. As a result, it does not consist of a single whole, but of many separate pieces.
