The foster parents of a 10-year-old girl who is fighting for her life in hospital have been remanded in custody while the police investigation continues.

Judges ordered the couple, known as Daisy and John van den B, to remain in jail for a further 14 days while police and social workers try to find out what went wrong. Another foster child and the couple’s own biological child have been removed from the family home in Vlaardingen, near Rotterdam.

Meanwhile, more details about the girl’s efforts to get help have been emerging, raising serious questions about the role of social workers and the lack of checks on foster parents.

Sources have told the Telegraaf that the girl has been so physically abused that it “resembles torture” and that she was often tied up for hours at a time. Her head had also been shaved, ostensibly because she had lice. She was also spotted in the garden last summer, weeding with a broken arm.

The girl, who was placed with the family in March 2022, is now known to have made efforts to get help at a local supermarket and at school several months ago, saying she had been beaten. Several people, including neighbours, have also reported the situation to the authorities.

Sources told the paper questions were also raised about the suitability of the couple to raise foster children last summer when it turned out they were advertising themselves as swingers on sex websites, and offering to meet others at their home.

The girl’s biological mother told the paper via a spokesman that she is only allowed to visit her daughter in hospital with the say so of the William Schrikker Groep, the  private foundation in charge of the girl’s welfare.

The foundation has refused to comment on its role in the scandal, saying only that it has reported the situation to government inspectors.