Paper 4

Dec. 1999

THE HONG KONG COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE

FAMILY SERVICE AND CHILD CARE DIVISION

1. reviews our concept and philosophy about family: its functions, its problems and government’s role on supporting the family. This will form the direction and objectives of family services and the basis of the Review
2. formulates a continuum of services, from preventive to remedial, to meet the complex needs of the family
3. reviews the roles, functions and modes of service delivery of the family welfare services
4. proposes whether and what changes to the current mode of service delivery adopted in these services are necessary to meet the changing needs of families and provide better integration of services for the family
5. identifies and makes recommendations on areas where interfacing of different welfare services and services under different government departments are necessary
6. studies the need for developing assessment tool
7. proposes outcome measurement for different family services
8. draws up implementation plans for the final recommendations

1. Re. Tasks of the Consultants

1. by analysing secondary data, find out the current family needs and project the needs in the coming years, say, in the coming decade
2. by way of a survey, collect information and views of the existing service users of the family welfare services and assess i) their service utilisation patterns and views on the existing services provided; and ii) their expectation of the service provision

(the sample size to be decided)

3. by way of interviews or focused group discussions, collect views and expectations of the operators of the family welfare services to assess the utilisation and patterns of the services and gauge their comments and expectation of re-engineered services.
4. consult, where appropriate, professionals in the welfare, health and medical sectors involved in the provision of support to the family
5. formulate options to improve the current services

1. the continuum of welfare services for the family, the positioning of different family services and the service gaps
2. the new modes of service delivery and how to integrate different family welfare services to meet the needs of the family in the coming years (e.g. in the coming decade)
3. mechanism to facilitate SWD and agencies’ responsiveness to the changing societal needs
4. what should be the interface between family welfare services and other supportive welfare services and the interface between welfare services and services provided by other government departments
5. how to co-operate with other professions in providing support to families
6. the need to develop an assessment tool for the services
7. outcome measures for the family services

1. the steering committee – the meeting frequency should be specified. Furthermore, the consultants are expected to hold regular meetings on the progress of the consultancy with a working group led by the authorised representatives of the SWD to discuss issues with implications for the services
2. duration of the consultancy study – with regard to the scope of the Review, the duration should be around 10 to 12 months instead
3. staff – in order to conduct the consultancy effectively and competently, it is essential for the consultancy team to have good understanding of the local scene of family services. The staff of the consultancy team should possess proven qualifications and experience in social work and administration, survey research, medical and health, etc.
4. assessment panel – an assessment panel chaired by the DSW or his authorized representative will evaluate the proposals submitted by all the consultants. In fact, the steering committee could be set up early to take up this function.