[mbarilla]

Can someone please explain to me what is a respite case? I have heard this term used in different ways. At our Open House, they said that if you wanted to go on vacation and did not want to take the foster child, you could use respite. But if you decided not to use respite, you could get paid for it instead...2 wks per year, and use the money towards a vacation or whatever. I still don't know what that means.
Please clarify...

[Withay]

Respite is where your foster child(ren) goes to another foster home for a day up to 2 weeks.

There are many reason for using respite care. One time I did was because I am single and got pneumonia. There was no way I could care for the 2 babies who were in my home, so my certifier had them placed in respite care for a week so I could get well.

Another time I had to use respite for 4 days because one of my foster children was admitted to the hospital. Another foster family watched the other child so I could stay at the hospital with the sick child.

Some people use it for going on vacation. Sometimes you have a vacation scheduled, tickets purchased, motel rooms booked and then you get a new foster placement.

Sometimes you just need a weekend away from the stress of caring for your foster child(ren). You can request that they spend the weekend with another foster family.

We have a place in our area where we can put the child(ren) in respite care for 2 - 3 hours while we go shopping, working out, etc.

There are as many reason for using foster care as there are foster families.

[hkolln]

Originally Posted by mbarilla

But if you decided not to use respite, you could get paid for it instead...2 wks per year, and use the money towards a vacation or whatever. I still don't know what that means.
Please clarify...

I think what they are saying is the person that does the respite (the other FP's that take in the child for a day, week or weeks) gets that part of your foster care stipend to care for the child. So if you get say 400/month and leave the child with the respite provider for a week they would receive the 100 for that one week they cared for the child and you would get the remainder of 300 for the month. If you don't use respite then you would get your normal monthly stipend.

[millie58]

There are some centers that provide post-adoption respite. I've never heard of hourly respite; though. That's fantastic!!

[mbarilla]

Hellen,
I don't think thats what she meant. She said that if the foster family chose not to use respite at all, they would get paid for not using it and that we could use the money however we see fit. So if we wanted to take us all on vacation (foster child included) then we could use that money towards that if we wished.

[shaylynn]

Here in Iowa, like other places, it is used to pay for another provider to watch the child(ren) while you take a break. You are allowed a certain number of days per year as determined by your state. Here, you have the choice of either use them or lose them, you do not get the money as an extra to use for a vacation or whatever. It is just available to give foster parents a break. If the child is a subsidized adoption, then the parents get 5 days a year at a set rate no matter what the level of care the child is but with adopted kids, it can be anyone that you trust over the age of 18 to watch the kids not just other foster parents.

[jp4ga]

In GA, you do not get paid any additional funds if you do not take respite. However, if you do utillize respite care you can not claim stipend for the days that the child was not in your care. So if I go on a vacation, and leave the foster child for 7 days out of a 30 day month I can only claim 23 days of stipend money and the respite family claims 7 days. I have not heard of any state that gives additional funding for not taking respite.

[arbuckle17]

We have two forms of respit, one for foster care through the state and another for special needs through fam outreach. We don't get reimbursed for either if we don't use them we simple loose it if it isn't utilized.

Though we can cash in some of our respit hours through outreach for DSP hours (individual therapy) this is where a therapist (usually a college student) do work directly with our special needs kiddo working toward some of our goals.

[mbarilla]

Interesting...thanks for the info!!

[millie58]

NY is the same. If we use respite, the respite provider is paid out of the foster stipend. There is no extra for vacations.

[mbarilla]

I am going to clarify this on Monday at our initial interview..I'll post back what she says!