Considering the existing literature on families with disabled children from the 1980s and 1990s, various conceptual research deficits can be identified. These primarily consist of an overly strong focus on the issue of disability and an excessively family-centered perspective. For this reason, the author connects concepts from support and coping research with systems theory and socio-ecological concepts to arrive at a new research practice. Building on systems theory family research, he argues for viewing the family as a social group that acts uniformly in relation to its environment. In this sense, the utilization of external family support represents a coping effort by the family that has received little attention so far. Another conclusion from this family sociological perspective is that.