Proactive support for a child with an unchangeable condition.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MKM) and the Social Insurance Board (SKA) jointly investigated ways to make the journey of a child with special needs to the necessary help a simple, fast, and invisible event service.

This project focused on designing a proactive, user-centered support journey for children with special needs, with the goal of simplifying and accelerating access to services based on the diagnosis of a long-term condition. Building on earlier initiatives led by the Ministry of Social Affairs, the project explored how event-based public services and automated data exchange could improve coordination between healthcare, social services, local governments, and families.

The work began with extensive user research and business process analysis, including interviews with parents, specialists, advocacy organizations, and system owners. Key challenges identified included fragmented information channels, limited visibility into available services, duplicated processes, and poor interoperability between systems. These insights informed the design of a future-state service model centered around transparency, proactive support, and seamless cross-sector collaboration.

Based on the findings, an MVP concept and implementation roadmap were developed, accompanied by legal and economic impact assessments. The proposed solution automates key stages of the support journey—from diagnosis and assessment of assistance needs to the proactive delivery of eligible services and benefits. To validate the concept, a high-fidelity prototype was created for the eesti.ee state portal, providing parents with a centralized view of their child's support journey, available services, and relevant information. The prototype served as a foundation for future development and demonstrated how digital services can create a more accessible, coordinated, and user-friendly experience for families navigating complex support systems.