Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Designing Services

Part 13 of the explanation with the ToC: Using the information gathered during the initial data collection and the individual assessments of children and their family, it is possible to get an overview of what services are needed, for how many people in what locations, whether these services are already available, whether organisations are operating in the relevant locations that might be willing and able to set up and run services there for ‘your’ children to use, whether you need to provide these organisations with support to do so (and if so, what kind of support), or whether you can build on existing services yourself; and what services are needed and not present in any form, and so need to be set up from scratch, by you.

Once you have this overview, you can start to design services, so look at how they should work, how they need to be run and what is needed to set them up. This also involves looking at what you can do yourself and what you are going to need to call in outside help for.

What services are needed, will depend on the local situation, what the children need and what is already provided for. However, it is important to realise that the range of services that need to be in place is extremely wide. It ranges from general things like schools and healthcare that is accessible, to specialised services like community-based rehabilitation, support with HIV management, and various forms of support for parents who struggle to care for their children without it. When looking at what services are needed, you also need to think about things like effective gatekeeping systems and provisions that allow children and families to have a say in what happens to them.

Services need to be designed in a way that is inclusive and accessible to everyone in the community. Children with and without disabilities or other special needs should be able to make sure of the services provided without discrimination or segregation.

When designing services, you need to take the services that are needed as the basis for the planning, not what is already there or most convenient to provide. When something is already available, that is great and very helpful, but if something is needed and not available, then you are going to have to make sure that it will be arranged, otherwise, the placement of the child is likely to break down. When you are designing services and making a plan for setting them up, it is useful to take into account the next topic: redirecting funds and resources.

If you would like to read the explanation with the model from the very start, you can go HERE.

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