Demography and social economy, 2014, 2(22):11-20
doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/dse2014.02.011

O.V. Makarova
PDoctor of sciences (Economy), Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

SERVICES IN THE SOCIAL SUPPORT SYSTEM: EFFECTIVENESS PROBLEMS AND DATA SUPPORT
Section: Socio-economic problems. Human development.
Language: Russian
Abstract: Social services are an important component of the social support system. The interest in social services reformation arouse, when Ukraine declared European integration policy. Due to that, it became necessary to bring the service standards up to the European level. Characteristic features of the existing social services system are an excessive centralization and disposition to institutionalization; system reticence and information deficiency; monopolies. Moreover, in most cases social assistance is provided according to the formal features instead of taking into account people’s real needs, as a matter of fact, services are not oriented to obviate the actual cause and there is no coordination between the agencies that provide social services.
The research confirms the fact that families with low income that receive social assistance experience difficulties not only of an economic nature but a variety of others. They often lose a number of family functions. A considerable number of the social assistance recipients face difficulties finding a job: almost 40% of families that receive child-care or low-income assistance have family members who are working-age and, though unemployed, want to find a job.
One of the major reasons of prolonged poverty is that people develop a certain mental set. The basic social service principles should include: an integrated approach to assistance; correspondence between the provided services and actual needs; an aim to find a solution to the existing situation. That is why, it is important to find a solution to a range of methodological problems: 1. Defining the purpose of provided services (taking into account the initial state and special features of the client); 2. Designing an individual program for each client; 3. Evaluating service efficiency; 4. Ensuring the whole designing and implementation process with high-quality and reliable information.
Key words: social services, state support, social programs’ evaluation, information support.
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