Shared Family Care in the Netherlands:three programs and their outcomes

Within the Netherlands, several Shared Family Care programs have emerged in response to policy ambitions to reduce reliance on secure and other child-only residential placements, while strengthening family-centered, trauma-informed care. This chapter describes and compares three Dutch SFC programs – KINGS (a Dutch acronym for Child IN Healthy System), FamilyTotal, and the Expertise Center for Treatment and Assessment of Parenting and Psychiatry – that differ in target populations, duration, and balance between treatment and assessment, but share a two-generation focus on parents and children. Using longitudinal quantitative data, observational measures, and in-depth case material, we summarize outcomes across child, parent, and family domains. Overall, we observed improvements across several domains, including child and parental trauma-related symptoms, aspects of psychological functioning, parenting behavior, and family conditions. However, trajectories varied across families and programs, and the sustainability of change appeared sensitive to contextual stressors after discharge. By situating these findings within the Dutch residential youth care landscape and the international SFC typology, this chapter highlights both the potential and challenges of SFC as a family-centered alternative within contemporary child welfare systems.