The conference on "Support for Family Caregivers" reported in this document was designed to identify, encourage the development of, and disseminate information about effective approaches for strengthening the capacity of families to care for their impaired relatives. The first of two presentations in the opening plenary session reviews the needs…

This paper profiles nine model programs for supporting families who care for a child with a severe illness or one or more disabilities and discusses current trends as they emerged from interviews with key persons in the field. Core components examined include self-help, advocacy, parent education, respite care, family-centered case management, and…