The plan for the deinstitutionalisation and transformation of social welfare homes and other legal entities that perform social welfare activities in the Republic of Croatia, for the period from 2011 to 2018 is a strategic national document dedicated to intensify the reform processes of transformation and deinstitutionalisation, and it represents a basis for planning a network of social welfare homes and activities. The purpose of the Plan is to reduce entrance in institutions and increase exit from institutions in new forms of welfare, in particular by stimulating family reintegration (with a guarantee of one or several family support services in the local community), which should be adjusted to the development priorities of network services at local level while taking into account uniformity at regional level.
The Plan relates to social welfare homes and other legal entities that perform social welfare activities intended for children and youth without suitable parental care, children and youth with behavioural anomalies, children with developmental disabilities, disabled adults and psychically ill adults.
The City of Rijeka follows, in particular, the deinstitutionalisation of the Rehabilitation Centre Rijeka, Home for Mentally Ill Adults Turnić Rijeka, Children’s Home “Ivana Brlić Mažuranić”, and it helps organise housing communities for their beneficiaries.
In order to organise a housing community, in 2006, the City of Rijeka dedicated one flat to the proteges of the Children’s Home “Ivana Brlić Mažuranić” from Lovran, who after having completed secondary education leave the Home.
Since 2013, by settling the overhead costs of the daily accommodation centre, the City of Rijeka also supports the deinstitutionalisation of the Home for Mentally Ill Adults Turnić. Moreover, with support from the City of Rijeka, the Home managed to open two new organised housing communities in the quarters of Donja Vežica and Turnić.
In July 2016, two city flats located in the Pulac area (one of a surface of 107 sq.m. and the other of a surface of 143 sq. m.) were made available to the Rehabilitation Centre Rijeka. In this way, eleven disabled people who had previously lived in this centre were given a chance to live independent life in the so called housing communities with permanent or temporary support from a professional.