Greater Freedom instead of Dependency

The heatwave of summer 2003 in France highlighted very dramatically the isolation of some elderly people and the failure of society to take proper care of them. Given the ageing of the population and the forecast increase in the numbers of the very old, the problem of looking after many dependent old people is a major challenge for the future.
René Lenoir has spent his whole career in senior posts in the French civil service and his writings are a point of reference for anyone interested in social issues. Here he examines the ways that France might cope with this increase in high dependency, not just among the old, but also other vulnerable groups, especially disabled people and children.
Basing his remarks on his own experience, he describes how things have changed over the years, with a general and gradual trend away from keeping people shut in towards offering them greater autonomy (albeit with some exceptions). He stresses the scale of the problems and the worries raised by them. He describes the current institutional arrangements as well as some initiatives undertaken in several French regions, and points out some ways of meeting the needs of these groups while respecting their dignity. Given the State’s failure to provide enough people to work in the sector, he argues that we may well have to look to the recently retired to fill the gap on a voluntary basis. Once again, civil society will probably be called on to make up for the deficiencies of the public authorities.