Fifteen children of 6 families in which 1 parent undergoing home dialysis were examined by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, human figure drawings and family interviews. All the children were clinically depressed, and 2/3 had a history of being referred by teachers to school counselors and psychiatrists for behavioral problems in school. Of these referred children, all showed disorders of psychomotor activity and reduced academic achievement. There was no clearcut evidence that these children were depressed because of exposure to home dialysis per se. The most disturbed children seemed to be responding to depressed parents or to partial object loss. A controlled, prospective study is planned to clarify this question.