ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the development of social care services in Iceland. Specific attention is paid to three areas: children’s day-care, institutional care of the elderly and home help services. Gradually the local authorities have been improving and increasing the social services. The way the service for the elderly is organised and funded, the national government pays the operating costs of institutions, as well as home nursing. Welfare services would have developed differently if the political scene in Iceland had been comparable to that in the other Scandinavian countries. The legislation emphasized the importance of strengthening day care institutions in Icelandic society for pedagogical, social and societal reasons. Geriatric assessment, which came into use in 1991, was one of the most important innovations in the service for the elderly in Iceland. Most of the Icelandic law on welfare affairs are similar to the Scandinavian legislation.
