The municipality of Hoogeveen will continue with Buurtfamilies and Moeders van Hoogeveen in the coming years. In total, more than two tons are allocated for this every year.
After almost two years of trial runs, the municipality of Hoogeveen believes that Neighborhood Families should become a permanent part of the policy. The project links families who need a helping hand to another family. The municipality sees that informal care is bearing fruit. For example, the support family can give tips about raising children or take care of children for half a day, so that parents are relieved.
Neighborhood Families is a volunteer project, but a coordinator is used to link families together. Hoogeveen annually allocates 50,000 euros for Neighborhood Families. The idea is that the low-threshold help prevents more expensive youth care from having to be used later.
For another project, Moeders van Hoogeveen, 160,000 euros are now made available annually. This concept, originally from Rotterdam, has been running in Hoogeveen since 2019. Expectant mothers are helped to live a healthy life during pregnancy. Even after childbirth, there is help from professionals and students to vulnerable mothers and their child.
For example, a student can be paired who helps with everything that is involved in the first phase of education. This project also has a preventive effect. “It’s about strengthening the social basis for young and even children who have not even been born yet,” says alderman Jeroen Westendorp. “In this way, it must be prevented that the step is necessary in the future to indicated (and more expensive, ed.) care request such as youth care.”