Sibling support is a form of support often offered to the brother or sister of a person with disability. While practiced around the world and the subject of much research interest, most research about sibling support has been outcomes evaluation of individual sibling support programs, rather than about the operational/structural circumstances of the organizations providing sibling support or of the sibling support sector at large. Within this context, this paper offers the first research of its kind: an exploratory study of the business operation of sibling support in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, USA and Canada. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 13 leaders of sibling support provider organizations in these countries, the paper focuses on sibling support providers' business models, funding, staffing, leadership and governance. The findings highlight that across countries, sibling support is a sub-section of the not-for-profit/charity sector that mostly operates with minimal funding and staffing, and which is largely driven by the passion and personal experience of those who run sibling support organizations. The paper discusses the implications of the findings, with the conceptual lens of seeking to formalize recognition and legitimacy for sibling support as a distinct social service type within the disability/health/social care and not-for-profit/charity spaces. Further, by aggregating the experiences of sibling support providers across countries, the paper is able to show that—while a distinct service type and sector—the successes and challenges of the sibling support sector nevertheless also very much reflect the broader struggles of many other small not-for-profits/charities.

中文翻译：

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为残疾人兄弟姐妹服务的社会支持部门的运作：跨国分析

兄弟姐妹支持是一种经常向残疾人的兄弟或姐妹提供的支持形式。虽然在世界范围内进行实践并成为研究热点，但大多数关于兄弟姐妹支持的研究都是对单个兄弟姐妹支持计划的结果评估，而不是关于提供兄弟姐妹支持的组织或整个兄弟姐妹支持部门的运营/结构环境. 在此背景下，本文提供了同类研究中的第一个：对澳大利亚、新西兰、英国、美国和加拿大的兄弟姐妹支持业务运作的探索性研究。本文通过对这些国家的 13 位兄弟支持提供者组织的领导进行半结构化访谈，重点关注兄弟支持提供者的商业模式、资金、人员配备、领导力和治理。调查结果强调，在不同国家/地区，兄弟姐妹支持是非营利/慈善部门的一个子部分，主要以最少的资金和人员运作，主要是由经营兄弟姐妹支持的人的热情和个人经验驱动的组织。本文讨论了研究结果的含义，并从概念角度寻求将兄弟姐妹支持作为残疾/健康/社会护理和非营利/慈善空间中独特的社会服务类型的认可和合法性正式化。此外，通过汇总各国兄弟支持提供者的经验，