• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.62 no.2
• /
• pp.399-420
• /
• 2010

A notable recent change in Korean social service delivery is adopting voucher system. A significant portion of foreign literature suggests that the structure of service provision is critical to enhance consumer choice in voucher-based social service delivery system. As domestic research on voucher operation system is very limited, little is known about voucher-based social service provision structure and operating system. Given these limitations in the domestic literature, this study aims to examine the status and effectiveness of voucher-based system with specific focuses on the provision structure of early intervention service for children at the risk of ADHD. Data were collected from 194 service providers across the nation. Based on Cave's analytic paradigm on voucher operating system, data analyses were done to examine (1) the influence of adopting voucher system on service provision system and (2) whether consumer choice has been increased or not. The results indicated that (1) adopting voucher have brought into diversification of service providers, but (2) consumer choice is still limited. Based on these results, future directions for voucher-related policy were discussed.