Simba Familiezorg

Stichting Simba Familiezorg is a Dutch youth-care organisation working to help children grow up safely within their own families, including when a household faces serious difficulties. It focuses on situations involving an actual or threatened out-of-home placement, when siblings may otherwise be sent to different care settings and family relationships can be disrupted.

Simba provides intensive, tailored family guidance to parents and the people around them. Its approach aims to strengthen family connections and support children’s possible return home when this is safe and appropriate. The work is organised in four phases: preparation and matching, building cooperation among those involved, strengthening the family and parenting skills, and considering return home followed by aftercare. The process is adapted to each family.

Seven organisations from the youth-care sector have joined in the foundation to make Simba’s support available to more families in the Netherlands. Children, parents and professionals describe the approach as distinctive, and cited social-impact business cases indicate that it can reduce costs in support for families with complex needs.