This monograph advances ideas to aid planners and administrators responsible for the development of deinstitutionalization services for the disabled to develop a more rigorous, systematic approach to the provision of these services. The seven chapters of the publication, each written by a recognized leader in the field, focus on the following: (1) the growth and development, both historically and conceptually, of the deinstitutionalization movement and its impact on human service systems; (2) approaches to identifying, quantifying, and assessing the needs of various populations who might be served through deinstitutionalization programs; (3) sources and mechanisms for funding deinstitutionalization services, with an emphasis on maximizing available federal and state funding; (4) a system-oriented analysis of roles and relationships within and between agencies that provides a basis for improving continuity of care for clients and closer working arrangements between service providers; (5) a review of principles and characteristics of community-based programs and of models that serve the residential, social, and vocational needs of formerly institutionalized clients; (6) emerging issues and trends in the areas of personnel training, development, and use, with special notice given to the changing roles of workers involved in the deinstitutionalization field; and (7) the importance of community attitudes and behaviors toward deinstitutionalized clients and programs, as well as proposed strategies for achieving more positive public acceptance. A final chapter provides a summing up by the editor. (KC)