“The Merciful City”: Foster Family Care in Geel, Belgium (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “The Merciful City”: Foster Family Care in Geel, Belgium
Author: Lorraine McCrary
Abstract: Geel, a town in Belgium where “boarders” with mental illness or intellectual disabilities live with foster families in their homes, provides one model of community care. In Geel, people with and without disabilities care for each other in family-like communities where needs and abilities change over time. Lauded by the World Health Organization, Geel foster families often stay together for decades and over generations. While Geel’s exemplary community care for people with disabilities has been praised, few interviews with boarders have been conducted. I will interview people with intellectual disabilities and mental illness in Geel, Belgium, in order to understand whether and how communities of care at Geel foster agency in people with disabilities—both in foster families and in other social and political associations in the town. I will study whether agency facilitated in foster families leads to agency in other associations, in order to understand the role that cultivating agency in people with mental illness and intellectual disabilities plays in the success of Geel.
Date: 09/15/2022
Conference Name: American Political Science Association Conference

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