Research report - Alternative public policies in providing integrated specialized services for children with autism spectrum disorders and for their families

Abstract

The article is a research report that briefly describes the stages of an advocacy process and the results of the project: "Increasing the involvement of NGOs and social partners in promoting alternative public policies for children with ASD”, an initiative of Help Autism Association which took place in 2019. Was used a mixed research methodology. In-depth interviews were collected from 134 specialists from institutions, NGO practitioners and parents of children with ASD. Focus-group were organized in 8 regions of Romania with participation of 139 representatives of the target group of the project. Through the method of the self-administered questionnaire, opinions from 47 specialists and 303 relatives/guardians of people with ASD were collected in order to identify the needs and to propose solutions in the field of providing integrated specialized services for people with ASD. Also 8 working meetings took place in all 8 development regions of Romania with participation of 151 specialists who were informed about the method of Assessing the Impact of Legislative Regulation and 96 representatives of the non-governmental sector were trained in the advocacy process. Following the project, a coalition of 80 non-governmental organizations was formed, reunited in the RO TSA Network. Through this project, the civil society, represented by this network of NGOs participated in the elaboration of the first National Plan on Autism in Romania.

Keywords

• public policies
• ngos
• advocacy
• autism
• integrated specialized services