Hub for the Delivery of Services
Because schools play a central role in the lives of children, youth, and families, the school setting is an appropriate place to link with various human services (Hoover & Achilles, 1996). The school itself is a public place that is conveniently located in the community. Typically, school buildings are available for use after school hours and when school is not in session. Teachers have direct and daily contact with students and therefore are in a unique position to identify students who are hungry, sick, abused, or in need of services (Levy & Shepardson, 1992).
Schools traditionally have provided some health and social programs--such as vision and hearing screenings, immunizations, and school lunches--for students (Center for the Future of Children, 1992). Current efforts for school-linked services aim to broaden these programs by establishing partnerships with service agencies. Ascher (1990) notes:
"Because all children have to attend school, schools are the most accessible, appropriate, and accountable institutions for establishing collaboratives. Further, since schools are supposed to be concerned with their students' overall development, it is logical for them to coordinate students' contact with human service agencies."
School-linked services aim to provide a wide range of services, to match services and resources to each child's individual needs, to collaborate between service providers, to extend the services to family members, and to simplify the point of entry into the service delivery system.