The power of the social (care) network

The Rotterdam NWO research was shaped, among other things, by interviews with more than 100 households, often with complex problems. In addition, social care workers in Rotterdam were questioned.

Too ambitious
The high expectation surrounding the 2015 care transition that every care recipient can rely on support from their own network for every type of problem, turned out to be too ambitious. Nevertheless, the support from family and friends, and – to a lesser extent – ​​from the neighbourhood, is in most cases indispensable. Moreover, this support is often assessed very positively. In addition, some of the households turned out to be unfamiliar with the new statutory right to a family group plan as laid down in the Youth Act and Social Support Act. This is striking, because facilitating such plans is a new public task for Dutch municipalities.

From expert meeting to book
The Rotterdam research project was successfully concluded last year with an international expert meeting at Erasmus School of Law, where leading researchers debated the pros and cons of different approaches in scientific research into the activation of the personal network in the social domain.

This meeting resulted in the book, Family Group Conference Research – Reflections and Ways Forward. It places research into social network support in a broader, multidisciplinary perspective. Practical experiences are also shared, such as from the London borough of Camden, where much has already been achieved with an integrated professional and network approach.