ABSTRACT
Increasingly, practitioners are recognising that the social exclusion of adult service users can only be overcome by connecting the objectives of community care with those of community development. They are in fact strongly complementary. The requirements for tackling social exclusion – joined-up action, local approaches, high levels of community participation and explicit attention to inclusion (anti-poverty) have already shifted the emphasis within community care, making it more receptive to community development. As Barr and his colleagues have asserted: ‘Methods of community development can help achieve the objectives of progressive community care, whilst engagement with user communities helps community development to realise its vision of inclusiveness’ (Barr et al. 2001).
