The Office for Children, Youth and Family Affairs is called upon or obliged to participate in court proceedings for the benefit of minors affected by separation or divorce if a divorce is "contentious".

Examples of this are if there is not (yet) agreement on parental custody and disagreements regarding access rights.

Whenever children are born in a marriage and they are still minors when the divorce petition is filed, the Office for Children, Youth and Family Affairs will be informed of this by the family court, with special reference to the fact that an application for custody and/or access rights has been filed by one of the parents.