OUT-OF-HOME PLACEMENT FOR CHILDREN WITH RETARDATION.

The article presents interviews with 62 families who have institutionalized their mentally retarded children. It describes aspects of the decision making process, including post-placement adjustment and satisfaction to these families and relates children's age and the size of the placement setting to families' placement experiences. Parents were invited to participate in an interview study, without compensation, to share their experiences with placement. They signed informed consent forms detailing their rights, including confidentiality and freedom to decline answering any questions. Respondents' recollections about the initiation of the placement process were vivid and emotional. The pressures to place a child often had built up over an extended period of time. Over half of the parents interviewed reported no specific precipitating event, noting that placement followed a gradual accumulation of child-related stressors. Twenty-three percent of respondents noted a parent-related event, typically related to one or more life changes-death of a spouse, deteriorating health, or changes in job, finances, marital status, or marital adjustment.