SS4115 Integrated Social Work Practice Chan Fung Yan Emily Chung Yin Wai Toby Lau Suet Har Lau Yuk Yu Rain Wong Yip Hung Geoff Wu Ho Yan Wayne Yau Ka To Integration ConceptPractice

Integration Concept AdvantagesDisadvantages Practice AdvantagesDisadvantages

Concept of integration: family services Eco-systemic Perspective Person-in-situation - Microsystem - Messosystem - Exosystem - Macrosystem

Concept of integration: family services 1. Microsystem Concern clients’ situation Concern: Individual level –Preventive and developmental –Individual Counseling (therapeutic) –Provide actual resource

Concept of integration: family services 2. Messosystem - Family system -Relationship between other system Concern: > Enhance the interaction between family members > Strengthen the family function > Family system and the other systems (school peers) co-ordination

Concept of integration: family services 3. Exosystem - Community factors (community resources) - Formal (Social services)and informal (neighborhood)social structure

Concept of integration: family services 4. Macrosystem - Culture - Social value → affect social resources distribution Example –patriarchy ( 父權主義 ) –Social value 適者生存

IFSC Rationales (1)  Strength oriented Intervention designed to reinforce the strengths, capacity and assets of the individual, family or community  Changing community conditions Intervention also considers the need to change environmental and community conditions that affect healthy development of children and families  Bottom up initiatives Projects should have the flexibility to initiate creative programs addressing to local needs

IFSC Rationales (2)  Comprehensive services Through partnerships and service integration, complicated and multiple family problems can be met as far as possible in a single service organization or a single service program. To avoid services being too categorical and specialized  Strengthening informal services Importance of providing family support from the natural support social network, volunteers, and social capital of mutual-help groups

Objectives of IFSC(1) Provide a comprehensive range of preventive, developmental, supportive and remedial services  enhance the physical, psychological, intellectual and social functions of individuals and families Preserve and strengthen family as a unit, support and enhance family functioning and development of its members

Objectives of IFSC (2) Facilitate social and interpersonal relationship among individuals and families Built up a supportive and caring community to facilitate betterment of life Indemnify problems early, and to provide early intervention to support and assist people in disadvantaged circumstances (e.g. families in trouble, children or youth at risk) Help them cope with life crises, regain self-resilience and restore their normal functioning

Modes for the formation of IFSC Greenfield ~ completely new and specifically-designed project Self-transformation ~ formed by transforming of FSC itself Strategic alliance ~ formed by the partnership between the FSC and the community-based program of two separate agencies Merging ~ formed by merging of FSC and the community-based program of the same agency

Principles of integration Accessibility Early identification Integration Partnership

Integration Concept AdvantagesDisadvantages Practice AdvantagesDisadvantages

Advantages of the integration concept (1) One-stop services – service users multi-level of intervention – past →case work; present → case work, group work, outreach, community work etc From remedial service to preventive and supportive services (emphasis early identification of risk and early intervention)

Advantages of the integration concept (2) Use the community resources efficient ( use informal and formal supports in government, NGOs and community organizations More flexible Comprehensive services: from specialized services to a continuum of service mix through partnership

Integration Concept AdvantagesDisadvantages Practice AdvantagesDisadvantages

Disadvantages of the integration concept Neglect the needs of the minority e.g single parent family Work for multi-needs→↑work load→ 人手爭奪或顧此失彼 Social worker → burnt out and ↑pressure Social Worker → scapegoat Unclear services category

Integration Concept AdvantagesDisadvantages Practice AdvantagesDisadvantages

Practice of integration: HKFWS 香港家庭福利會 (HKFWS) a non-governmental organization (NGO). IFSC Run on subsidies from the Government and the Community Chest committed to delivering quality and professional social services to enhance the well-being of families and individuals Resolve problems related to the family, marriage, courtship, friendship and learning, to prevent family break-ups and social problems, and to foster a caring community

Services of HKFWS – SLIFSC (1) 香港家庭福利會 - 順利綜合家庭服務中心 (SLIFSC) Current services classified by target groups - Integrated Family Services - Integrated Children and Youth Services - Elderly and Community Support Services - Child Care Services - Special Care Services

Services of HKFWS – SLIFSC (2) Current services classified by nature of services FunctionIntervention LevelService content Remedial and therapyFamily counseling (By counseling unit CU) Intensive case counseling Crisis intervention Therapeutic groups SupportFamily support (By supporting unit SU) Brief case counseling Mutual-help group Support group Prevention and developmentFamily resources (By resources unit RU) Outreach services Voluntary services Resources corner

Services of HKFWS – SLIFSC (3) In short, CU’s work focus on cases that need intensive counseling and following such as marital problems, as well as running some therapeutic groups such as Mental Health Groups based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy SU’s work focus on cases that need brief counseling, request tangible services such as application of housing referrals RU’s work focus on volunteer development and community programs such as care lines (run by trained volunteers) and home safety talk hold in the community Remarks: CU, SU and RU are team names and actually all workers in agency had to touch on all three nature of services, with different focus of workload

Services of HKFWS – SLIFSC (4) Base on one of the four services principles of IFSC, convenient to use, one-stop service have adopted (client-oriented integration) Enquiry service Supportive serviceCase Counseling service Family volunteer activitySupport group Mutual-aid group Therapeutic group Family Life Education activityFamily volunteer Flowchart of driven residents become family volunteer

Model of Integration (1) Method-oriented integration Family counselling service includes : Remedial : 1. casework, therapeutic groups 2. Therapeutic groups Prevention : 1. harm reduction 2. community education ( 街展 ), 3. developmental/educational group

Model of Integration (2) Profession-oriented integration Work with police force e.g. a talk of household safety Work with lawyer e.g a talk for divorce

Model of Integration (3) Locality-oriented integration - Work with private agency, ( 一線通平安鐘 ) e.g. a talk of Personal Emergency Link for the residents - Work with police force e.g. a talk of household safety -Work with governmental department e.g. a health talk for elderly in the district

Model of Integration (4) Service targets Service Family 1.Family Counselling Service 2. Family Support Service 3. Family Resource Service 4. Specialized Services:. e.g. Family Mediation, Mental Health Service, Critical Incident Stress Management Service Children and youths 1. Personal development 2. Familial and social relationships 3. School adjustment 4. Social environmental influence and adjustment 5. Personal Growth Education Service-oriented integration

Model of integration (5) Service targets Service Unemployed people 1. Helping users to understand their own needs and requirements of the labour market 2. Job skills training 3. Job-related information and job-matching services 4. Follow-up service in the first three months of employm divorced couples A qualified mediator helps the couple to negotiate a mutually agreeable settlement for divorce or separation on issues concerning the care of children, financial support, accommodation, etc. Service-oriented integration

Integration Concept AdvantagesDisadvantages Practice AdvantagesDisadvantages

Advantages of practicing integration in HKFWS (1) avoid services overlapping offering comprehensive service for client make use of community resources preventive approach  remedial approach client’s need/human oriented client can obtain service in one centre

Advantages of practicing integration in HKFWS (2) flexibility of using different kind of social work intervention avoid over division of services enhance the spirit of community mutual support (different organizations, different group of people work together to help the people with needed in the community)

Advantages of practicing integration in HKFWS (3) Enhance the connection between the IFFC and the community( community support and referral work) premise and facilities utilization (community-based program usually have more activity space and facilities, such as IT and recreational equipments) non-stigmatized image among the service users Increase the human resources capacity through re-structuring (e.g. creation of senior practitioner posts)

Advantages of practicing integration in HKFWS (4) streamlining similar programs (recreation, parenting skill training, information giving) Strategic alliance can mutually exchange resources between partners to improve efficiency. the variety of programs provided and interfacing between programs. Enhance the community participation and social inclusion programs (e.g., volunteer development and mutual help groups) through partnership with community-based programs. Integration of use of the theories can enhance the flexibility in meeting the client meet

Integration Concept AdvantagesDisadvantages Practice AdvantagesDisadvantages

Disadvantages of practicing integration in HKFWS (1) Two veteran frontline workers had been interviewed and practical disadvantages are summarized as follows: –Unclear service boundary worker have to do all kinds the works, heavy workload –For fulfilling SQS, support and mutual-aid groups have to run high expectation of workers’ generic knowledge, high pressure and expectation –Large proportion of service user towards worker Limited manpower and time, with increased services types and natures  high workload of worker  decreased the quality of services  complained by service users  low moral of worker

Disadvantages of practicing integration in HKFWS (2) –Workers have to attend trainings to fulfill expectation of a IFSC worker, but the training itself only provided basic knowledge  not enough for practical use –Nature of case changed to more tangible needs then counseling needs  non-stop working  mechanized –Administrative elements increased in a case such as making referrals  heavy workload  social work training = writing letters? –Decreased choices for users to choose among organizations offering similar services  client determination changed to agency determination (to open up case or not)

Disadvantages of practicing integration in HKFWS (3) –Many grey areas of arguing users belongs to which service boundary  IFSC should cover all the family service  those “troublesome” case are “referred” to IFSC  society tends to blame IFSC (with not good enough family services) whenever there are hot family issues raises society concern  negative images of social workers in IFSC

Disadvantages of practicing integration in HKFWS (4) –Running more groups and programs does not equals to decrease of cases More groups, programs and outreaches  increase the promotion and publicity of the agency  the effectiveness of function of support and resources activities are not significant enough to strengthen individual, family and community, but to promote a ways for individuals to seek help  increased numbers of cases –Ignore the district needs when allocating resources Manpower and resource is allocated according to the population of a certain district, but not reflecting the needs of that district  especially heavy case load per worker in areas like Tin Shui Wai

Disadvantages of practicing integration in HKFWS (5) –Partnership become unequal power between IFSC with other agencies There are little negotiation space or choice of receiving a case or not as IFSC suppose to cover all kinds of family services  violating a the service principle of partnership –For some situation, especially for NGO IFSC, resources are wasting As NGO IFSC do not have the power to handle some case involve law and government resources, more referrals have to be made, e.g. when applying a housing transfer of a public rental tenant after assessment of grounds, the case had to transferred to SWD IFSC first and then another referral to housing department for approval of application, instead of direct communication between NGO IFSC and HD. Even HD could do the assessment directly if a social worker’s post can be integrated into HD or other departments.

Disadvantages of practicing integration in HKFWS (6) –Networking with local departments or resources is important for case management, but it is based on a assumption: there are sufficient organizations or service providers for developing network –As people think that services can be provided by integrated service teams like IFSCs, specialized services such as single parents centers are tends to diminish and thus there is no continual and growing environment for successful networking

Critique on integration Professionalism of worker Increased Working Pressure Closed Professional service

Critique on integration (1) Professionalism of worker (1) The changing intervention methods (case, group, community) Before the integrated service –Workers may focus on the case or group work –Workers may good at specify target group –The service users can receive good quality of service  The quality of service can be maintained

Critique on integration (2) Professionalism of worker (2) After the integrated service –Workers are required to handle both case and group work –The ability of the workers may not strength on different intervention methods –They may feel difficulty to deal with the intervention that they are not keened on the work –The agency did not provide related training for the worker to enhance their professional skills  This can not ensure a good quality of service is provided to the public

Critique on integration (3) Increased Working Pressure The workload of the workers is exploded (such as the administration work, the integrated services)  increased the working pressure of worker -The situation was not changed Under the pressure, the quality of the service may also influence

Critique on integration (4) Closed Professional service (1) Before the integrated family service –Different category professional services were provided at different agencies –The service users could receive specific professional service

Critique on integration (5) Closed Professional service (2) After the integrated family service –All type of services are provided at the IFSC –However, the amount of funding is reduced at the IFSC –The IFSC should make use of the same funding to provide more type of service for the service users

Critique on integration (6) Closed Professional service (3) e.g. The Single Parent Center –There was 8 millions dollars funding at the single parent center –After the integrated, this funding did not transfer to the New IFSC –That mean the resources are cut down –Under the limited resources, the demand of the single parent service is reduce  The fittingly and specialized service cannot be provided to the service users  The quality of service is decreased

Comment Integration → fully utilize resources But → excuse of reduce social welfare subsidies (government) Although there are weaknesses on the concept of integration, we all agree that the rationales and objectives of integration are good since they based on the needs of the clients. However, from the collected information, we do think that improvement is needed in implementation.