SS4115 Group Project Analysis of Integrated Social Work Practice in Welfare Organizations ----...

SS4115 Group Project

Analysis of Integrated Social Work Practice in Welfare Organizations

---- Focused study on IFSC

Group Members:

Lee Yin King 50564784Hung Yuen Chun 50573756Chan Kit Ying 50547646Siu Lok Ming 50552411Yau Yuen King 50383739Lin Hau Yin 50547425Yeung Man Cham 50487946Wong Lai Ping 50459310

Table of Contents

Introduction of One- Stop Service Historical development of Integrated Service Ideal model of IFSC Model of integration on IFSC Advantages of integration Disadvantages of integration Difficulties in implementing integrated practice Ways of solving difficulties Positive and Negative Comments Conclusion Reference

Introduction of One –Stop Service

One- Stop Services provides a diversify, comprehensive and preventive services on the community.

Its major functions and services are: Hotlines Services Understanding Local Community Trust-building among the residents

One- Stop Services

The principles of One-Stop Services are, to respond proactively on local needs and allocated resources with flexibility and elasticity in the following areas:

Human Resources Financial Resources Equipment Spatial which are also corresponding to the idea of “Cost

Effectiveness”.

Another major principles of One-Stop Services are to responds swiftly and directly again on the local needs.

One-Stop Services

Example of carrying out one-stop serviceTarget ABackground Information:Background Information: Middle-aged woman, approached the center and

seek helps on financial assistance.Flow of providing one-stop servicesFlow of providing one-stop services:Comprehensive Assessment at the center Apart from the financial

difficulties, Problems on Spousal Relationship and Parenting also discovered Social Worker encouraged Target A to join training services / Attending Family Education Group / Participated in Counseling Services Being employed after the training program / Improvement in Spousal Relationship / Improvement in Parenting Skills. (Cheng, 2001)

From the above example, it helps to illustrate that One-stop services merge from remedy services to developmental services.

One-Stop Services

Historical Development ofIntegrated Service

1991 White Paper

- government announced that children and youth centers, outreach social work and school social work were to be integrated and co-operated together under neighborhood basis meaning that the same team of workers serve young people within the same area

Children and youth were the first target group to be under integration services

Historical Development of Integrated Service--IFSC

1993 - The Hong Kong Council of Social Services

suggested to establish Integrated Family Services Center so that family services centers, family life education, senior social workers and family guidance services were to be integrated. However, it was due to the extra expenditure needed for integration, the plan has been left aside.

Historical Development of Integrated Service--- IFSC 2000-2001- Study of family services reviewed that family problems

were more and more popular and serious- Family services were involved with youth services in

which the allocation of services was not concentrated and repeated with existing family services

- Integration of family services was established under three elements: primary prevention (family resources unit), secondary prevention (family support unit, tertiary prevention (family counseling unit)

To review, because: remedial services absorbed most resources preventive services were neglected

IDEAL MODEL OF IFSC

Direction and Rationale

Child-centered ( 兒童為重 )

Family-focused ( 家庭為本 )

Community-based ( 社區為基礎 )

Basic Principles

1. Accessibility

2. Early identification

3. Prevention

4. Integration

5. Partnership

A three-tiered model to support families

Tertiary

Specialized services and crisis intervention

eg. domestic violence, child abuse, suicide

Secondary

Range of support services from development programme to intensive counseling

Primary

Prevention of problems and crisis

eg. publicity, education & early identification

A three-tiered model to support families

SWD’s role: Reorganization strengthens community-based

service planning and delivery

NGO’s role: Lump Sum Grant allows more flexibility and

cost-effective use of resources

IFSC (ideal model)

15 pilot projects finished operation in 2004

Family Resource Unit

Family Support Unit

Family Counseling Unit

- Open, development, prevention

- Supporting families at risk

- Treatment oriented

Source: Report on the Review of Family Services “Meeting the Challenge: Strengthening Families”. Department of Social Work and Social Administration. The University of Hong Kong June 2001.


Functions: Easy to catch cases Early identification Educational, developmental Support and preventive Empowerment and advocacy

Source: Report on the Review of Family Services “Meeting the Challenge: Strengthening Families”. Department of Social Work and Social Administration. The University of Hong Kong June 2001. p.79.

Core Services: Drop-in services Information giving Family life education Developmental groups Mutual help groups Volunteer development outreach



Complementary Service Hotlines Employment skills training After school care / tutoring Child minding / occasional child care Respite care Play groups Recreational / social activities Toy library Research



Family Support Unit

Functions: Some remedial Preventive Support Advocacy


Core Services: Brief counseling Emotional support Referral for tangible services mutual help groups Family education

Complementary Service: Family aide service

Family Support Unit


Family Counseling Unit

Functions: Remedial

Core Services: Intensive counseling Therapeutic groups Crisis intervention


Partnership with the community and the Social Services System

1.IFSC ↔ Community-based social services unit

2.IFSC ↔ Social service units

3.IFSC ↔ Community organizations

4.IFSC ↔ Specialized units

5.IFSC ↔ Educational bodies

6.IFSC ↔ Other professionals

7.IFSC ↔ Government Offices


Service/Worker-oriented Integration(Different service units or workers join together)

1. IFSC ↔ Community-based social services uniteg. FARC/GWU, FARC/CC, CC, IT, C&YC

Type of relationship: early identification & referral Screening & referral of cases to IFSC Cooperation at project level collaboration



Service/Worker-oriented Integration

2. IFSC ↔ Social service unitseg. SSFU, SSW, MSS, M/E, children’s homes, rehabilitation units, elderly centers, PMCs, SPCs, CD projects, etc.

Type of relationship: early identification & referral Cooperation at project level



Service/Worker-oriented Integration

3. IFSC ↔ Community organizationseg. women’s labour & residents’ associations, self-help groups, disabled & parent organizations, etc.

Type of relationship: early identification & referral



4. IFSC ↔ Specialized unitseg. FCPSU, CCSU, CP, FLERC, Child assessment center, etc.

Type of relationship: Referral and support



Agency-oriented Integration(different agencies join together)

5. IFSC ↔ Educational bodieseg. child care centers, kindergartens, primary schools, special schools, skill centers, SGO/SGT, PATs, etc.




Profession-oriented Integration (Different professionals join together)

6. IFSC ↔ Other professionalseg. lawyers, medical practitioners, psychiatrists, educational psychologists, etc.

Type of relationship: early identification & referral



Agency-oriented Integration

7. IFSC ↔ Government Officeseg. Hospital & MCHCs, Department of Housing, Labour & Legal Aid, Marriage Registry, etc.



Further Illustration on Models of integration exist in IFSC

Method-oriented integrationProfession-oriented integrationNetworking & Case managementAgency-oriented integration

Method-oriented integration

Using all three social work interventions– casework (e.g.counselling service), group work( e.g. parenting group) , community work (e.g.mass programme: community education)

In dealing with cases which involve parenting difficulties, case workers may refer clients to join some parenting groups.

i.e. casework+group work

Profession-oriented integration

E.g. In dealing with cases which involve suspected

child abuse, social workers may call different professions such as psychologists, doctors, and police to join together for a case conference to investigate the case and discuss the welfare of the victim

i.e. Multiple Professional Case Conference (MPCC) Social workers+psychologists+doctors+police

Networking & Case ManagementE.g. Referring clients to food banks in case they could not

support their meals or are not entitled to apply for financial assistance

Referring clients to non-profit corporations such as Crossroads International to obtain tangible goods (furniture and electronic appliances)

Referring clients to join Intensive Employment Assistance Projects to help them find jobs

IFSC+Tangible assistance

IFSC+Employment assistance

Agency oriented integration

E.g. Community Harmony Project held from

June18 to July 19 in 2006 in Tuen MunIFSCs under the SWD+ Hong Kong Police Force+ Tuen Mun District Women’s Association+ IFSC under the Caritas

Looking at Reality

--- Opinions gathered from observation/

interviews of workers/discussion

Advantages of integration

For Service Users: User friendly, physically convenient for clients

( Past: service users approach different agencies by themselves

Now in IFSC: one-stop service or workers make referral , reduce intake procedures)

Quantity of services increases while the same resources are introduced More prevention programs held at district level

For Workers: Training programs for improving skills which match IFSC services Workers can develop diversified skills in handling varieties of cases /

and for using different intervention approaches/ wider exposure

For Center:

Better coordination and communication between the staff in the centre

Can get in touch with different types of problems and services.

Services are diversified and elastic which matched the ideas of “Cost-Effectiveness”.

Share materials of programme : reducing cost Efficient services to community needs.

Advantages of integration

Provide the total integration (one-stop service): -can have total assessment for the client-can find the different needs of one clientThe client can obtain the total service Increase the co-operation among different

professionals and service units-the resources can be used more flexibly- 不同專業 : 互相配合 , 互補不足 ( mutual

complementary)-the quality of services can be increased and

guaranteed

Example

In the past, the Family Resources Centre had an annual fund about $330000 for holding programs and groups for the whole district in Tuen Mun

At present, there are four Integrated Family Service Centres in Tuen Mun, each has about $90000 for programs and groups

IFSCs have to meet the service quota under the Funding Service Agreement

Services

Disadvantages of integration

For Centre Unable to provide one-stop services IFSCs are not competent in every aspect of

services. In comparison to some specialized units,

IFSCs may not be able to provide the same quality of services in some areas as those specialized units

It is uncertain whether it is more cost effective because it is difficult to measure the quality of services

Disadvantages of integration (Cont’)For service users Service users are sometimes transferred from

one centre to another, this creates confusion for them

For workers Workers’ burden increase a lot, this certainly

creates discontent and adjustment difficulties among the workers

Demand workers to have multiple skills ( case, group and community work) and increases their stress

The support system for workers is not enough

Disadvantage and Side-effects of integration For further explanation of the disadvantages on

integration, it can be divided into 2 major aspects, each aspect could also be divided into 2 areas to look into the problems

They are the worker side and the center side

To explore these area, we have read some reports and interview some social workers to understand more

Disadvantage and Side-effects of integration

Social Worker Center

3 Social work interventions(case, group ,community work)

Psychological Client’s feeling

Management

Integration

Social worker psychological aspects

According to a report of SWAC 11/03 on the evaluation report of integration services

Worker’s worry- Loss of work

- Cannot adapt the changes

- New services need to introduces

Social working interventions(case, group ,community work) Social Worker’s difficulties

- Integrated in services but workers lack of integrated experiences

- Worker’s should also work in the interventions who are not familiar and interest in

- Worker’s work load increase as holding variety of work in (individual, clients level – case, group and the society level community work sometimes)

- A worker is handling 60- 80 cases at the same time, still need to spend much time on group and programme preparation

- Always worry about the cases would have life danger but worker have insufficient time to handle– extremely high pressure

Center level’s side effectsClient aspect- Although it provide the convenience, some workers are not so

good at different working skills, it affects the quality of service

- Too much workload of worker also lower the quality of service received by service users

- Finally, they still need to be wait and take more time for the referral and intervention

- But actually the clients think less of integration, they most concern about how the service can help them

Family services center level side effects

Management- Center in-charge need to spend more time on

communicating the difficulties during the integration (However, not so many I.C. do so)

- There may have different management method and culture in various IFSC , the center-in-charges apply their own way in organize the resources. As a result, the integration culture is not consistent.


-worker’s communication also plays important role in integration the services as the case transfer internally in the centre, however, one social worker point out these kinds of software on integration are not well developed and prepared for the integration


- Provide some training to worker on the specific working intervention that they are not good at

(However, the daily work are too heavy to process on-job training)To code an example 一名家庭生活教育工作員服務有 50,000 名 10

至 50 歲市民之社區

Difficulties in implementing integrated practiceand solutions

Not much cases can be treated by group work, casework remain the focus

Workers’ inadequate knowledge on group work because they used to deal with cases only, and those who used to work in Community Centres find difficulty in dealing with cases

Worker’s inadequate knowledge in carrying out therapeutic groups for intensive treatment for clients

Difficulties in implementing integrated practice

Group session is limitedthe group’s culture in IFSC is 4 sessions per groupboth supportive / therapeutic groupthere is limited time to develop the group cohesion difficult to reach the aims of therapeutic in short time


Limitation in reality

Integration give service users an impression that it can provide any kind of services

IFSC also has its limitation in resources

Thus, maintain close contact and referral to other community resources is common


Confused responsibility /service boundary

-since the integration aims to provide one-shop service to the service user, sometimes other service will transfer their client for service

-there is a misunderstanding about service delivery

-”throw ball” between other agency may arise

- the reality is IFSC may not get responsibility in the situation

-IFSC also has its limitation in resources and boundary

Ways to solve the difficulties

Solution to Confused responsibility /service boundary

-maintain good cooperation , clear communication and setting guidelines/ agreement with other agency for service delivery

-When some case arguments are raised, use client’s benefit as priority

-seek for alternative solution between agencies

Ways to solve the difficulties

Solutions to improve service quality: Provide flexible and concise training courses and

workshops for workers on group work and therapies More work supervision Increase mutual support between workers exchange professional ideas with expertise Better utilize the strength of different worker –- more

division of work / a certain level of specialization inside the team

e.g. ASWO focuses more on casework and therapeutic group

Increase no. of workers ( increase funding needed) Comprehensive training needed in institution

Positive Comments It is a diversify and large-scale model which

provides varieties services which are easily assess to.

It helps to shorten the period in the process of referring cases and could make intervention within a shorter period of time.

It integrated with different kinds of services could lessen the duration for the residents in seeking information.

There are different kinds of services available within the setting and services users could choose their suitable and best services under the supervisions and suggestions from IFSC.

Our Comments on the integration

The services ranged from preventive to remedial, served as a more professional image on the community and could help to strengthen its foundation in the locality, as a result, the residents in the community will be clearer on where and how they can seek helps and information.

It helps to lessen the financial expenses of the government as IFSC is running under the “Cost-Effectiveness” principle.

As IFSC is working on the whole community, it helps to balance different kinds of services’ needs and development, which as a result turns to be more favorable to the locality as their needs can be better satisfied.

IFSC also work at advocating new services to meet the changing needs on the community and as a result, it helps to bring better services to the residents.

Positive Comments

Comments on the integration

Negative comments- The integration actually contain a lot of good ideas and the

effectiveness of using resources. However, the “software” of integration are not enough to support the workers and the center.

- It seems that integration is to save resources instead of using resources more effectively since the effectiveness of integration on family services is unsure. The results on it varies according to the perspectives that the researcher adopts , the reports done by Hong Kong University are supported by H.K. government and therefore contains bias

- Under the Funding Service Agreement, each IFSC has to try hard to meet the quota, it emphasizes too much on quantity of service provided but the quality of services is not ensured

To code some example, software of S.W. support is limited, no spare time to have further training, no ways to share the pressure when facing changes. Moreover, even for the worker, they are not open to recognize the difficulties and release pressure during the integration as some workers think that social worker should be strong……therefore, such kinds of software are not developed well, the result of integration must have many aspects to be improved as our presentation mention

Service delivery is confused and do not have a clear guild line.

-sometimes other agency transfer case to IFSC which they think that IFSC has one-stop service

-however there is limitation in service delivery

-misunderstanding arise between IFSC and other agency

-it is time consuming to struggle between the event

-and affect the service delivery towards client

Conclusion

To conclude, the rationale of IFSC deserves us to promote and support.

Because…. It is more efficient for the service users to search and

use the service when practicing the one-stop service. The service users can save more time in the service use. The service can be centralized in one district that the service users can be more convenient to use different kinds of services at the same time.

The service duplication can be decreased after practicing the one-stop service that the service user can receive a more effective and congruent service (a better support and intervention from the social worker).

Despite the fact that agencies and social workers are facing the changes brought by integration, they are also facing the challenges brought by lump-sum grant and funding services agreement (F.S.A.):

Front line social workers need more time and resources for adapting the changes

More resources should be allocated to agencies so as to provide spaces for front line social workers to receive further training and support

To cope with the diversifying and ever-changing needs of clients, concerning parties should go through the carrying out and implementation of integration services in details as well as do more research on the influence towards social service agencies brought by integration so that the aim of services, “provide effective support for people in need in society” could be achieved.

References 社會福利諮詢委員會會議記錄 2003 年 10 月 28 日

http://www.hwfb.gov.hk/cn/committees/swac/minutes031028_c.htm

剖析服務綜合化http://www.hkcs.org/info/cnews/c224/c224_11.htm

家庭服務檢討之回應二 (探討服務目標、服務策劃及整合家庭服務模式 )

游達裕朱志強林嘉麗黃美菁http://swforum.socialnet.org.hk/article/001112.htm

鄭麗玲 . (2002). 一切由｢綜合｣開始—東涌新體驗 . 社聯季刊 . 香港 : 香港社會服務聯會 .

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