ABSTRACT
Most people needing additional support in managing their lives find what they want by using their own resources or drawing on those of friends and family. Social work with adults has, therefore, always involved practitioners working within a ‘ mixed economy ‘ of care provision and the evidence suggests that they only become involved as a last resort. Community care policies recently introduced into the personal social services have sought to change the form but certainly not the balance of this established pattern of response. Indeed some commentators predict a further retreat of social workers from direct contact with vulnerable adults (Baldock 1993; Hallett 1991). The role of local authority social service departments is being shifted from that of service ‘provider’ to ‘enabler’, placing the emphasis within adult – or community care – services on social workers devising individualised ‘packages’ of services from a range of ‘suppliers’ such as private households, voluntary and private sector organisations.
