[Care of disabled children: social support accessed by mothers]

The functioning of a disabled child's family is modified because of the pile up of demands over the family, especially the mother. This study had as objective to understand how as the disabled children's mother, assisted in a rehabilitation institution, identifies and accesses the sources of social support to assist her son's needs and of her family. The concepts of social support, and Qualitative Analysis of Content, were used as theoretical and methodological frameworks to guide data collection and analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six mothers. It emerged six thematic categories that explain the mother's movement to access the social support. It was ended that the families need adequate support programs to allow their empowerment.