Developments in deinstitutionalization and community living in the Czech Republic

The Czech national policy on social services and health is based on the principal of human rights and empowerment of persons with a disability. Based on published literature and reports, as well as knowledge and experience from working in the field, this mainly conceptual paper summarizes progress from an institutional era towards community based alternatives in the Czech Republic over the past two decades. Whilst European and national policy is supportive of community living, and new individualized funding streams have been created, progress towards the goal of community living for everyone with a disability has been slow and has met with many barriers. The paper highlights the need to consider issues such as the availability of data related to funding and delivery of services, planning of the transitional period towards community-based services, accessibility of reports on quality of services including institutions and the conflict of interests created by the system of guardianship. It is concluded that despite economic circumstances which may slow down the process of deinstitutionalisation, the direction of change towards community living needs to be sustained.