Residential care services in Turkey: Review of emergency placement application

When the approach of social policies in the field of disabled and elderly in Turkey is examined, it is seen that people's need for care is intervened with different practices. The need for boarding institution care for disabled and elderly individuals continues to increase from the past to the present. In order for the individuals to benefit from the services of the boarding maintenance, it is necessary to complete the mandatory procedures in the legislation and to carry out certain conditions. With the Emergency Placement Procedures Circular, individuals who are determined to be in need of care without completing this process are placed in the disabled care centers for the purpose of receiving residential care until their procedures are completed. In this study, the way of application of the circular applied by the Provincial Directorates of Family and Social Services, which is implemented by the General Directorate of Disabled and Elderly Services, in disabled care centers, is, in this context, it is aimed to evaluate the sociodemographic characteristics and situations of the individuals placed, to examine the effects of the application in the disabled care centers and to evaluate the functionality of the application. In the study, document analysis and phenomenological approach were preferred using qualitative research method. The files of the individuals who received services within the scope of the circular in the disabled care centers where the research was carried out were analyzed and findings were obtained by conducting in-depth interviews with the employees of the institution. When looking at the data of the study, the placement of individuals who are thought to need care is done, while healthy individuals, elderly people who do not have obstacles, people with different disability group are placed in the disabled care center, it has been concluded that taking care of different disadvantaged groups together until the social service model is determined causes problems in many ways, that the application offers a temporary solution and at the same time does not respond with the appropriate services to the situation of the applicants.