	Respite Care

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

RC 11: Personnel

Respite care providers are qualified for, and receive support in, providing temporary care to improve individual and family well-being, reduce caregiver stress, and promote family stability.

RC 11.01

Respite care providers have the personal characteristics necessary to provide flexible, affectionate care.

RC 11.02

Respite care providers are competent to:

assess the need for additional services;
respect and appreciate the cultural background, heritage, and identity of persons receiving services;
communicate effectively;
identify changes in functioning; and
determine if a crisis situation is imminent and intervene using appropriate resources.

Interpretation: Competency can be demonstrated through education, training, or experience.

RC 11.03

Respite care providers are skilled in the following areas, as appropriate to the services provided:

methods of engagement;
helping individuals cope with trauma;
identification of medical needs or problems;
the organization’s plans for handling emergencies;
case advocacy;
use of adaptive equipment, such as braces and wheelchairs;
providing personal care, including lifting techniques; and
other areas necessary to serve the target population.

Interpretation: Skills can be acquired or improved through education, training, or supervision.

RC 11.04

Providers are screened and approved prior to having contact with families to ensure they are able to provide the type of care needed, and screenings include:

a criminal record and abuse registry check for all adults living in the provider’s home; and
relevant caregiving experience.

Interpretation: Record checks are conducted in compliance with applicable law. When a finding of child or adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation is indicated, guidelines are used to determine the appropriateness of provider responsibilities.

NA Element (a) if respite care is not provided in the providers’ homes.

RC 11.05

Personnel that provide personal care or basic health services receive a health evaluation prior to providing care to determine their ability to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Interpretation: While a physical examination is preferred, personnel may receive a general health screening performed by a qualified medical practitioner, provided that the screening addresses communicable diseases.

RC 11.06

Respite care providers sign a statement agreeing to refrain from the use of corporal punishment and degrading treatment, and receive training and support to promote positive behavior and implement appropriate discipline techniques.

Note: Organizations that permit restrictive behavior management techniques must implement relevant Behavior Support and Management (BSM) standards.

RC 11.07

Personnel who conduct assessments are qualified by training, skill, and experience, and have the ability to recognize individuals and families with special needs.

RC 11.08

Supervisors have:

an advanced degree in social work or a comparable human service field with one year of relevant experience, or
a bachelor's degree in social work or a comparable human service field with two years of relevant experience.

RC 11.09

Employee workloads are regularly reviewed and are based on an assessment of the following:

the qualifications, competencies, and experience of the worker, including the level of supervision needed;
the work and time required to accomplish assigned tasks and job responsibilities; and
service volume, accounting for assessed level of needs of new and current clients and referrals.

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	PURPOSE: Respite Care reduces caregiver stress, promotes the well-being and safety of care recipients, and contributes to stable families.

RELATED FILES


	CAREGIVER The provider of physical, emotional, and social needs to another person, often dependent and unable to provide for his or her own needs. Caregiver is the generic term used for the direct service providers in Community Care and Support Services (CCS).


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	TRAINING Instruction so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient in a skill or body of knowledge.


	CASE A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.


	ADVOCACY An act performed with or on behalf of others through direct intervention, empowerment, or representation. Case advocacy refers to actions taken in relation to a particular individual consumer. Cause, social, or systems advocacy refers to actions taken in relation to a common issue affecting a group of persons.


	SUPERVISION Assumption of responsibility for directly overseeing and evaluating the work or work products of personnel within an organization. Also includes inspecting the act or process of accomplishing a function or activity.


	APPROPRIATENESS The degree to which a particular service, placement, treatment, intervention, or activity is: best suited to an individual's needs; not excessive, unduly intrusive, or restrictive; anticipated to be effective in achieving the desired and specified outcomes; and adequate or sufficient in quantity to address the problem.


	PERSONNEL The body of employees and/or volunteers that carries out the organization's tasks under the organization's administration and/or supervision. This definition does not include foster parents who are specifically referenced in relevant standards


	EVALUATION The review and assessment of organizational operations, programs and services.


	QUALIFIED MEDICAL PRACTITIONER See QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL


	RESTRICTIVE BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT Interventions that restrict, limit, or curtail a person's freedom of movement to prevent harm to self or others. These interventions include isolation, manual or mechanical restraint, and locked isolation.


	BEHAVIOR SUPPORT AND MANAGEMENT The use of specialized interventions to guide, control, and redirect client behaviors. Examples of behavior management approaches used in residential treatment settings include mediation, time out, locked seclusion, and physical restraint.


	ASSESSMENT An evaluation, which utilizes professional expertise and skills in the collection and analysis of data to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group. Assessment, as in needs assessment, is also used to determine priorities of program planning and service development for the organization as a whole. See also DIAGNOSIS.


	SPECIAL NEEDS A designation used in reference to conditions or characteristics of a person that reflect a need for special care, services, or treatment. When the term is used in the context of adoption services, special needs refers to conditions that make a child harder to place for adoption. This includes children who are members of sibling groups, older children, children with disabilities, children of certain racial /ethnic backgrounds, etc. When the term is used in the context of foster care it refers to the need for a higher degree of specialized case services and attention due to mental and physical disabilities. When the term is used in the context of out-of-school time services, a child or youth may have special physical, behavioral, medical, emotional, or cognitive needs that should be addressed or accommodated. The term is also used in other contexts. See also DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.


	ADVANCED DEGREE A degree at the Master's level or beyond from an institution of higher education. An advanced degree does not include a Bachelor's degree, an associate's degree, or an educational certificate.


	SOCIAL WORK Professionally responsible interventions carried out by persons with formal, professional education at the BSW or MSW level from an accredited school of social work and appropriate licensing, certification, and registration credentials. Interventions are directed toward improving the transactions between people and environments to enhance the adaptive capacities of the participants and improve environments for all that function within them. Social work is a professional practice with a consumer group consisting of individuals, families, small groups, organizations, neighborhoods, and communities and involving the disciplined application of knowledge and skill.


	EMPLOYEE Paid member of an organization. Foster parents are not considered employees and are specifically referenced in relevant standards.


	WORKLOAD The amount of work assigned to or expected from a person within a specified period of time. See also CASELOAD.


	REFERRALS Resource suggestions provided to consumers to address problems or needs that are beyond the scope of the organization's mission.