ABSTRACT
The ideal is where services are tailored to meet the individual needs of families and thus complement the families’ own ‘structure for coping’ (Bayley, 1973). However, this does not always happen. Indeed, for some families, statutory support services may not only fail to meet their needs but may also be an added source of strain: ‘contacts with services were a major source of problems (for parents), which often assumed greater importance than problems arising more directly out of the child’s handicap.’ (Lloyd-Bostock, 1976, p. 325). Some of the possible reasons for this mismatch between family needs and the services offered will be considered here.
