Nowaday, communit based rehabilitation (I BR) has been looked up on as a 'olution tornachieving practical and efficient rehabilitation approach. Keeping this in mind this researchrnwork was initiated to inve tigate the effect of CBR on families of children with menLal retardationrn(MR),rnTo meet the objective, Addis Development Vision (ADV) located in Addis Ababa was selected as arnample organization. Ten parents with MR from 10 familie', four community rehabilitationrnworke~ (I RWs), and the program coordinator of the sampled organization were selected asrnrespondent. The participants were selected based on purposive technique. Semi- structuredrninterview schedule, focus group discussion guide and review of document, were used as tools inrnthe main study .Among the ten families of parents, four were reserved for interview, and thernremaining for focus group discu sion. The CRWs and program coordinator have beenrninterviewed The data obtained were organized, analyzed and interpreted using qualitativernapproach.rnAt the very moment the parent realized that their children were mentally retarded, they haverndeveloped a sense of hopelessness, shame and disbelief and denial of the facL. However, afterrnjoining the CBR, the reactions of parent to their children were improved This was achievedrnthrough parents meeting, individual counseling and social rehabilitation work . Therefore thisrnstudy could establish that CBR program has been able to bring about improvement in the livingrncondition of children with MR and their families.rnThe families have confirmed that they have received different services from the cenlrelADVI.rnHowever, in spite of their poor living condition and need of immediate intervention to get theirrndaily bread, skill training and income generating activities were not conducted aiming to benefitrnall the families of children with MR.rnThe major problem identified in this study are low financial status of familie " which made themrnconcentrate more on earning their daily bread than looking ajier their chddren. The otherrnproblem is related to the quality and quantity of CRWs in the area of rendering services Lo thernchildren. The last one is the high frequency of changing the school and Kebeles admini tration.rnTherefore, it is believed that the CBR center hould be encouraged to trengthen the existingrnservices to bring considerable change in the life of the children with MR, their familie and therncommunity as well.