Specialized Social Services: A Comprehensive Guide
Specialized Social Services
These services target specific sectors of the population to meet their social needs.
a) Children and Adolescents
Aim: To develop actions for the social care of this population group, achieve the greatest levels of promotion and protection of normal living units, fostering growth and harmonious development of children and teenagers, correct dysfunctions that occur in that environment, and take corrective action when community institutions cannot resolve issues in the normal environment.
Beneficiaries: All children under 14 years old, with preferential treatment for those living in high-risk social environments.
Functions:
- Enhancement and promotion of cultural and psychosocial development of children and adolescents, in collaboration with other social resources devoted to children.
- Early detection and care of problems that affect the well-being of children, especially amid dysfunctional psychosocial situations, whose compensation and correction corresponds to this social service.
- Detection of children and adolescents who suffer abuse or inappropriate care, as well as those that are subject to exploitation or abuse of any kind, responding to such problems through appropriate means of integration.
Resources: Children’s day-care centers, shelters, family counseling services, financial benefits.
b) Youth
Aim: To develop activities and facilities to normalize the lives of youth in high-risk environments, prevent exclusion, and ensure the integration of young people.
Beneficiaries: Individuals aged between 14 and 18 who, due to their unique family circumstances and social needs, require assistance.
Functions:
- Seek, in collaboration with general services dedicated to youth, the development of personal advocacy, occupational, cultural, and recreational centers in high-risk areas.
- Strengthen and, where appropriate, manage facilities for youngsters with problems of coexistence.
Resources: Day-care centers, shelters, homes, supervised housing, benefits.
c) The Elderly (3rd Age)
Aim: To expand operations and establish facilities to normalize the lives of the elderly, preventing their marginalization and seeking integration, favoring their maintenance in their communities, in coordination with home care services.
Beneficiaries: People over 60 years old and their spouses or persons who usually live together, regardless of age.
Resources: Day-care centers, shelters, and economic cooperation.
d) Disabled
Aim: Social integration of individuals with disabilities, promoting the prevention of disability, the early establishment of comprehensive treatment, rehabilitation, and work integration without uprooting them from their family environment whenever possible.
Beneficiaries: Persons whose chances of employment or social integration are diminished due to a likely permanent physical, mental, or sensory deficiency.
Functions:
- Diagnosis, guidance, and assessment of disabled people.
- Support for families of disabled people, promoting and facilitating their integration into regular social resources.
- Providing professional recovery and promoting employment integration.
Resources: Services for prevention, diagnosis, and assessment guidance. Early childhood development services and therapeutic support for integration. Day-care centers, cash benefits, and occupational centers.
e) Drug Addiction
Aim: In collaboration with relevant Mental Health Services, to plan, coordinate, and develop programs aimed at the prevention, treatment, and social integration of individuals with drug dependency, and to provide staffing and equipment adapted to the needs of such planning.
Functions: Prevention services, counseling, family support, and treatment.
Resources: Day-care centers aimed at social integration and cooperation with centers for addiction.
f) Prevention, Assistance, and Social Reintegration of Crime
Aim: To develop actions for the prevention of crime, social reintegration of inmates in prisons and those who have already served sentences, as well as care for their families.
Beneficiaries: Individuals whose social environment encourages criminal acts, those in prison or recently released, and families lacking the means for subsistence.
Functions:
- Crime prevention.
- Awareness campaign planning to develop social solidarity and provide the necessary resources for prisoners, former prisoners, and their families to prevent isolation and promote social integration.
Resources: Counseling services, shelters, adaptation services, and any other assistance aimed at the social integration of the beneficiary.
g) Women
Aim: To promote all types of actions to normalize the lives of women in high-risk environments due to their gender, prevent marginalization, and ensure the integration of women.
Beneficiaries: Women in general, especially those experiencing discrimination or specific needs.
Functions:
- Study and investigation of the causes of marginalization in these special cases.
- Campaigns to promote social solidarity with the objectives described above and address the problem of female prostitution.
Resources: Guidance and counseling centers.