Problems of development of the non-profit sector of social services for children with autism spectrum disorders

The results of a study of the development in the Russian regions of socially oriented non-profit organizations (SO NPOs) that provide services to families raising children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are analyzed. The study was conducted in the period from 2019 to 2021, 11 semi-structured interviews were selected for analysis with managers and employees of non-profit organizations providing social services to children with ASD and their families (Yekaterinburg, Novorossiysk, Rostov-on-Don, Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk, Khabarovsk). It is shown that the need for the development of NPOs working with this group of children is due to an increase in the number of such children and the lack of opportunities to receive services they need in the system of state social service institutions in full. Currently, NGOs have taken a leading position in the social services for children with ASD. However, as this segment of the non-profit sector of social services develops, problems accumulate that hinder its development. Non-profit organizations experience a shortage of resources (financial, personnel, qualification, volunteer), they are characterized by a low organizational culture, limited partnerships with the business community, etc., they are faced with the need to constantly overcome bureaucratic barriers when interacting with regional departmental governments, and also with manifested «consumer extremism» in a certain part of families raising children with ASD. Representatives of NGOs are concerned that in the near future there will be a critical increase in adult citizens with autism spectrum disorders, for whom the domestic practice of social services currently lacks the necessary ecosystem of assistance that could constitute an alternative to neuropsychiatric boarding schools for adults with ASD. In the future, the development of a non-profit sector of social services for people with ASD should contribute to the formation of such a system, including early diagnosis, early assistance, adapted training and education, accompanied by social employment / employment, accompanied by accommodation. To create such an ecosystem of assistance, a real intersectoral social partnership is needed, in which the role of the non-profit sector can be realized as the problems of its development, which are analyzed in the article, are overcome.