Publisher's Synopsis
Specialists from nine Western countries explore how formal and informal means of helping work together in a variety of different systems and cultures. Mutual help groups, voluntary associations, informal helping networks, and simple neighbourly or family ties are shown at work with professional services. Care for the elderly, for people in single room hotels, networks of refugees, and self-help groups are some of the specific programmes discussed. The last section of the book deals with policy issues. Is it a cheaper form of social service? What unexpected problems and drawbacks does it entail? Such questions are answered for human service workers and policy makers.
