Shock, followed by denial and then by grief is the usual sequence of events in most parents' response to the realization that their newborn child is not perfectly formed. A period of adjustment then occurs, during which the parents have to follow the day-to-day problems of bringing up a child whose needs and achievements are markedly different from those of the normal child. Previously, Gath had noted that there was a lower rate of broken homes in those families who decided to rear their Mongoloid child at home. Those families who decided on institutions for the abnormal child had an increased incidence of divorce and separation. It was concluded that one of the factors leading to the request for institutional care for the abnormal child was pre-existing severe conflict between the parents.