The investigation was concerned with the examination of the needs and stress levels of the parents of mentally disabled children in terms of some variables. The study included parents (15 mothers and 13 fathers) of 28 mentally disabled children composed of 14 girls and 14 boys who were getting education in the School of Practice and Work Center for the Mentally Disabled in Cankiri. The data were collected by using "The Family Introduction Form", FNS (Family Needs Survey) and QFS-F (Questionnaire on Resources and Stress-F) Turkish. The data were analyzed by Kruskal Wallis H and Mann Whitney U tests. Most of the parents examined were over 41 years old, married as well as primary school graduates. Moreover, 53.6% of them were mothers and 46.4% of them were fathers. According to the FNS, the parents mostly need knowledge. Meanwhile, they had the feeling of pessimism according to QRS-F Turkish. When the average scores from the total scale were examined, the ones who were illiterate and unemployed (p less than 0.05) had mentally retarded boy in the six to 12 age range (p greater than 0.05). Moreover, according to the measurements, the parents who were high school graduate, unemployed had mentally retarded boy in the six to 12 age range (p greater than 0.05). It was suggested that the necessities of the parents of mentally disabled children should be identified, supported with respect to economical, social and psychological, and they also should be informed about dialing with the stress. (Contains 7 tables.)