Professionals’ Perspectives on Family-Centered Practice in Dutch (Semi-)Residential Youth Care: A Qualitative Interview Study

Family-Centered Practice (FCP) is supported in research and policy, yet little is known about how professionals in (semi) residential youth care interpret its principles and involve families in daily practice. In this preregistered qualitative study, we interviewed 20 professionals in the FamilyTotal program in the Netherlands to explore their guiding attitudes, strategies, and facilitators and barriers related to skills, organizational conditions, and families’ responsiveness. Four major themes emerged describing key principles of FCP: (1) parents should parent, (2) services should address the whole family and broader youth context, (3) professionals should collaborate in partnership with families, and (4) services should be tailored to families’ needs and wishes, highlighting a whole-family focus and redistributing power between families and professionals. In practice, professionals emphasized alliance building and shared decision-making to elicit families’ intrinsic motivation to change. Facilitators included sufficient time for observation and contact, team support, inter- and intrapersonal skills, and an open learning environment, whereas barriers involved engaging families’ wider networks and addressing families’ complex needs requiring specialized expertise or limited cognitive abilities. This study provides rich, practice-based insights into the daily processes shaping FCP in (semi) residential youth care, identifying strategies and conditions relevant to professional practice and program development.