Influences on the Size and Scope of Networks for Social Service Delivery

Local social service agencies throughout the world have begunencouraging or requiring social service providers to form community-basednetworks for the delivery of publicly funded social services.Little is known, however, about the nature of the resultingnetworks. In this article we develop a model of organizational,programmatic, and community influences on the size and scopeof interorganizational networks for social service delivery.We then apply this theoretical framework to an empirical studyof service delivery networks in the Family Preservation Programin Los Angeles County. Our findings suggest that the availabilityof potential partners in the community, the scope of requiredservices, and the ethnic homogeneity of the client populationare key determinants of network size. We develop the implicationsof the results for theories of partnership formation and formore effective management of network formation processes.