This paper examines the ideological grounds underlying the dominant call for care of the chronically ill and disabled to be located 'in the community. ' It looks also at some of the competing concepts which are, nevertheless, rejected. The paper suggests that the ideologies of certain professions and the policies of certain agencies have chosen to incorporate some of the con cepts current during the past two decades and to reject others; and that this has had demonstrable consequences for the development ofpolicies relat ing to the provision of long-term care in the present period. Principally, it looks at a concept which has got lost - the concept of communality.
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In work with Women's Aid and in welfare rights, I came across numbers of young people who had experienced a series of unhappy fosterings and had gained little from the bosom of these families; indeed, oneof the positive benefits of refuge life is the opportunity for women to live communally -difficult at first, but often appreciated later even in such difficult circumstances.
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