The Dutch child protection council told nrc.next on Friday it does not know how to treat underage children who want to travel to Syria to fight.

Children who threaten to travel to Syria are sometimes locked up in a youth institution. Once there, they are offered no treatment, a spokesman told the paper, because ‘we do not know how to deal with themChild protection council ‘at a loss’ on child would-be jihadis’.

Frustrating

‘It is frustrating to see that children who need treatment do not get any help,’ he said.

Radicalised children are often held in isolation because of fears they may influence others in the group. But it would actually be of more help to them to mix with their contemporaries, the paper reports.

There are currently seven underage children being held in youth institutions because they want to go to Syria, nrc.next says. A further nine children are with foster families.

In February, two Dutch girls were stopped on the border between Turkey and Syria.