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 NGO, that works with male street children. Fifteen face-to-face interviews were conducted with ten I-Care employees and five former street children. A focus group was set up with I-Care employees. While existing literature is forthright about a generalist approach for children at risk, it remains unclear how to implement this approach in practice. This article identifies a continuity of six fundamental social work practices for working with street children. These include outreach work; child-family and community mediation; transitory care centres and programmes; assistance to access food, grants, education and jobs; follow-ups; and empowering through mentorship. The study evaluates how these practices contribute to capability and agency expansion on behalf of street children and the challenges which service providers and former street children experience.