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It is the duty of the board of directors to administer the act, to observe development within the field, and to advance to the Minister of Social Affairs proposals as to measures consistent with new developments. The Minister of Social Affairs takes care of the establishment of regional service centers, and other means needed at any time to attain program targets.

For each regional center, a board of control is appointed to control the functions of the center and to administer jointly with the local regional management the residential services within the region. This board consists of five members, one being a representative of the parent's association.

Entitled to receive help and assistance from the Service are those who are or appear to be mentally retarded and who also appear to be in need of special services. Request for assistance, or termination of assistance, can be advanced by the person in question or by other persons or authorities on whom the responsibility rests to attend to the affairs of the person in question. Should the authorities within the Service learn by other means about any person who may be considered in need of services, they should bring about the necessary investigations to verify whether assistance should be given and, if necessary, arrange for initiation of such assistance. Public authorities, physicians, teachers, etc., who through their activities are in touch with the mentally retarded or other handicapped persons, are expected to furnish reports to the Service.

The service is required to give guidance to parents on the care, treatment, etc., of their mentally retarded children, and on existing facilities for help and assistance.

A child who is functioning in a retarded fashion and who can follow neither the ordinary primary school education nor the special educational system for slow children is subject to compulsory education and training from the age of 7 to the age of 21. This school obligation may be fulfilled in any number of ways, including home-tutoring.

As regards children and young people under 18 years of age and handicapped people under care beyond this age, services against the wish of their parents may be imposed only with the consent of the child welfare authorities.

There are detailed review and appeal procedures before services can be imposed upon individuals contrary to their own wishes or the wishes of those responsible for them.

Decisions as to the initiation or termination of relief measures against the wish of a person over the age of 18 are to be brought before a Central Tribunal set up by the Minister of Social Affairs, consisting of a chairman, a social worker, and an expert in psychiatry. The tribunal shall settle the question as soon as possible and within 1 month after receipt of the appeal. The settlements of the Central tribunal can, within 1 month, be appealed to the Court of settlement in accordance with the rules laid down in the Administration of Justice Act. The request for submission to the court may be forwarded by the person in question or by a person who acts on his behalf. If the Central Tribunal has passed a decision, the person who has appealed the case must be informed and apprised of his right to request that the case be submitted to the court.

In cases where relief measures have been initiated or terminated, the Service may advise the probate court accordingly in order to have a qualified and willing guardian appointed, who has to keep himself informed of the conditions of the mentally retarded person and who sees to it that relief measures are not upheld for a longer period than necessary.

The Service is entirely financed by the national government. It is responsible for services to citizens, from the cradle to the grave if necessary, and it counts among its retarded clientele groups of blind, deaf, motor-handicapped, epileptic, brain-injured, psychotic, emotionally and behaviorally disturbed, and language-handicapped persons.

All mentally retarded persons receiving some kind of help are registered at both regional and national registers. This registration is linked up with the registration of the whole population which is being prepared in Denmark, by which all persons, including the mentally retarded, are given an identification number.

By means of electronic data processing, the registration provides up-to-date information on all clients and collects material for statistics and research activities in the areas of treatment, planning administration, and client training. Also, the system will disclose personnel needs and will be of great value for comparative studies on an international level.

At first, the registration comprises only name, birth date, address, the form of services rendered, and data concerning the family of the client. Any admissions, changes in service measures, regional movements, discharges, etc., will be registered in a uniform way and will be entered into computer storage which writes out the necessary cards for the national and regional registers. It is contemplated to extend the range of data with medical, educational, and social inquiries in order to get a more comprehensive picture of our clients, their needs, and the services that are given. The basic inquiries are being delivered by the regional centers at rather short intervals and go through the headquarters to the computer center in charge of the registration, while the output is going the other way, namely from the computer center to the headquarters and back to the regional center. The computer center thus provides all mental retardation regions with registers, statistics, etc., on a regional and national basis.