ABSTRACT
This chapter details some of the variables involved in the process of care giving and also examines some of the alternatives that are emerging both within the family and as part of the external support network. In order to look at care giving from family perspective information from diverse areas such as child development and family relations, special education, family therapy, and social policy have been integrated. The stage based system increases the awareness of all that what is happening at one stage had its beginnings in a previous stage and may come to fruition in a later stage. Historically, the focus is on the health care, training and education of the disabled individual, without adequately taking into account the familial and social consequences. The chapter focuses on the disabled person as part of a system of interactions. All families with adolescents must evaluate and establish qualitatively different boundaries with their children than were used with younger children.
