Social support for status holders goes to Amaryllis

We are proud that Amaryllis may carry out the social guidance of status holders in the municipality of Leeuwarden from 1 January 2026. We have been awarded the European tender for this. This offers many opportunities.

A status holder is someone who has been granted a (temporary) residence permit in the Netherlands. This means they have the right to stay in the Netherlands and are assigned to a municipality where they will live. In their first year as a status holder, they can receive social guidance. In the municipality of Leeuwarden, this has so far been done by Vluchtelingenwerk.

Amaryllis is the social work and welfare organisation in the municipality of Leeuwarden. Amaryllis was already committed to helping status holders, but only when they have a question for help after the first year. Those questions are often in the field of parenting, finances or psychological problems. Now that we will also do social guidance from 1 January 2026, status holders can go directly to Amaryllis.

Getting to know earlier
Helma Brinkman is team leader at Amaryllis of team Statusholders, among others. She is proud of the trust placed in Amaryllis. “We got the award mainly because we are already in the neighbourhoods and villages, have a large network there, because we have a lot of knowledge on different topics and because we work both solution-oriented and preventive.”
“With some of the status holders who come to us now, we think: we would have liked to get to know them earlier. Then we might have avoided some of the problems. So that will soon be possible. We will continue to do partly the same thing, but at an earlier stage. Status holders can also join our group offerings in the neighbourhoods and villages just fine.”

Social counselling
Social guidance focuses on integration and participation, on taking part. For example, getting to know your neighbours, getting to know your neighbourhood, village or city and everyday life. But also practical matters such as registering with a GP, health insurance, school and finances.

“What we want to achieve is that status holders feel at home as soon as possible. That they know their way around, can stand on their own two feet, can participate and mean something in the neighbourhood or village where they are going to live.”

Collaboration
The social counselling will mainly be carried out by volunteers supported by colleagues from Amaryllis' Status Holders team. But Amaryllis' other teams are also involved: the social neighbourhood and village teams and the teams for volunteering, community work and youth work, among others.
We will also cooperate with other organisations in social guidance. For example, the municipality's civic integration team, Humanitas, Stjoer, Buurtservicepunt, dbieb and of course Refugee Council. Besides their assistance to refugees, Refugee Council will also continue to do part of the assistance to status holders, namely legal guidance.

From January
Amaryllis will assist new status holders coming to live in Leeuwarden from January 2026. This is expected to involve about 150 status holders per year. In the first months of 2026, Refugee Council will complete the ongoing Social Counselling Pathways of status holders who have recently been housed.