ON THE POSSIBILITIES AND CONDITIONS FOR EFFECTIVE DEINSTITIONALIZATION OF CARE SERVICES

Abstract

This article is intended to provide an insight into the first steps in the process of deinstitutionalisation of social services for dependent people in Poland, who have so far lived in traditional residential institutions. This was based on participation in a qualitative study by IPiSS as part of a pilot on the implementation of mechanisms and plans for deinstitutionalisation of social services. The main aim of the article is to formulate conclusions with reference to similar deinstitutionalisation processes in other, mainly European, countries on the basis of evaluation studies. This is a selective review, for two reasons. It deals only with the four groups of dependants with the highest levels of formal residential care: (a) children, (b) people with disabilities, (c) people with mental disorders and (d) the elderly. It also focuses particularly on the economic and management determinants of the actions taken that make them effective.The findings of this review highlight that successful denationalisation tends to be a costly process and involves people with greater capacity to live independently outside the institution. Moreover, when it is done in those local conditions where access to resources is easier: infrastructure, housing, financial and human resources, and local authorities have an adequate and long-term plan of action and a coordinating institution. All in all, deinstitutionalisation is a process of re-institutionalisation; existing care institutions are transformed, but only a certain proportion of residents take up independent living in their environment.