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Provision of Family Services at Integrated Family Service Centre (IFSC)

Bureau / Department Social Welfare Department (SWD)
Objective The objectives of IFSC are:
  • to provide a comprehensive range of preventive, developmental, supportive and remedial services to enhance the physical, psychological, intellectual and social functions of individuals and families;
  • to preserve and strengthen the family as a unit, support and enhance family functioning and development of its members, facilitate social and interpersonal relationship among individuals and families, and build up a supportive and caring community to facilitate betterment of life; and
  • to identify problems early, and to provide early intervention to support and assist people in disadvantaged circumstances so as to help them cope with life crises, regain self-resilience and restore their normal functioning.
Content With the main objective of preserving and strengthening the family as a unit, IFSC seeks to meet the multifarious needs of individuals and families in the community through a continuum of preventive, supportive and remedial services including family life education, parent-child activities, enquiry service, volunteer training, outreaching service, support groups, educational / developmental programmes, counselling and referral service, etc. through three major components, namely Family Resource Unit, Family Support Unit and Family Counselling Unit.
Groups / Persons Affected Individuals and families in need.
Impact The concept of gender mainstreaming provided a reference for staff to consider the gender issues in design, implementation, evaluation and review of the service. For example, mutual help groups were formed in the IFSCs for enhancing women's participation and mutual support in the local community.

Besides, when evaluating the programme effectiveness, users of both genders had been consulted through different means, such as User Satisfaction Forms (to be completed by service users upon termination of service) and Customer Liaison Groups. Data collected by statistical form also indicated the gender difference in participating in different type of groups for service assessment and planning.
Success Factor / Lessons Learned The concept of gender mainstreaming enabled both frontline and supervisory staff to be more aware of the gender perspectives when planning the services. As women are the main users of IFSCs, SWD staff will continue their effort to sustain the positive impact of adopting gender mainstreaming on service delivery.