Ebook: A case study on a generalist service delivery model for street children in Durban, South Africa: Insights from the capability approach

This paper adopts a qualitative case study on the generalist service delivery model of I‐Care, a
Durban‐based non‐governmental organization that works with male street children. Fifteen
face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with 10 I‐Care employees and 5 former street children.
A focus group was set up with I‐Care employees. Although existing literature is forthright about a
generalist approach for children at risk, it remains unclear how to implement this approach in
practice. This paper reviews a continuity of 5 fundamental social work practices for working with
street children: (a) outreach work, (b) child–family and child–community mediation, (c) transitory
care centres and programmes, (d) brokerage, and (e) mentorship and follow‐ups. The study analyses
how these practices contribute to the capability and agency expansion of the street children
and outlines challenges that service providers and former street children experience. The main
challenges acknowledged are balancing between the agency and protection of street children
and the adaptation of children to street life. The study proposes intervention strategies to overcome
these challenges.