Older Mothers Who Do Not Use Day Programs for Their Daughters and Sons with Mental Retardation

We have previously reported those mothers of offspring with mental retardation that do not use available day services differ in many important ways from mothers of offspring who use these services (Smith et al., 1994). The present study extends our earlier work by examining whether or not significant differences exist between two distinct subgroups among the mothers of offspring who are not presently using day services: those who never used day services (n = 37) and those who withdrew from use (n = 22). Findings suggest that the oldest mothers who never used day services for their offspring probably gave birth to their child when only institutional care was readily available. On the other hand, perceptions of the service system caused mothers in the group who withdrew their offspring to have increased sensitivity to inadequacy of programs and to feel greater need for additional services. Practices and policies to recruit these hard-to-reach families as clients are essential