Community care: challenging the assumption of gratuitous care

This paper critically examines the reliance of formal home-based services upon the availability of informal carers and questions whether the level of informal assistance is sustainable. The paper challenges the 'taken for granted' assumptions of community care and contends that residential care should be seen in terms of a transition - a 'safe harbour' both for recipients and carers. Finally, the paper suggests that the move from containment within institutions to a regime of community dispersion requires critical evaluation of deinstitutionalisation initiatives; and it argues for an engagement of our collective responsibility for the security of our senior citizens.