Who Should Care?: Development of Kilkenny Social Services - Softcover

Neighbour helping neighbour in time of difficulty and distress is an old tradition in Ireland, but in the early sixties the tradition seemed to be in danger.

A group of people in Kilkenny were called together by Bishop Peter Birch to face the question -'Who should care?' and this book tells how that first spark kindled enthusiasm and became an explosion of pioneering social services.

Methodically, Sister Stanislaus describes how social needs were discovered and met: the achievements and inevitable errors of nearly two decades of planned caring in a rural community. The story tells more than many theoretical books could of the integration of such a service with family and other natural caring units and, at the other extreme, with growing statutory services.

Above all it _ shows how such organisations must change and grow to respond to changing needs.

It is a vital contribution to the study of social policy and services in Ireland, of value to anyone involved in community care, and particularly to student and professional social workers and historians.