Respite Services Funding Guidelines

Respite is a support service designed to relieve family members temporarily of providing constant care for the person with a developmental disability, on a planned or an emergency basis. Respite is not designed to be used as child care for working parents. Respite can be provided for short periods in the person’s own home or provided in a licensed community care facility on a 24 hour basis.

Welfare and Institutions Code §4791 states that the Regional Center must take into account, in identifying the client ’s service needs, the family’s responsibility for providing similar services to a child without disabilities. Therefore families are expected to provide for their own respite through assistance of other family members, friends or a regular paid sitter. However, if the Interdisciplinary Team determines that the person requires a degree of care beyond that normally associated with respite involving a nondisabled individual, and all generic resources such as In Home Support Services have been exhausted, Regional Center funded respite may be authorized.

A person may be considered for purchased respite if one or more of the following criteria are met:

• The person has serious, specific, documented behavior problems. Examples would include aggressive acting-out, assaultive or self-abusive behaviors or hyperactivity that may present a danger to him or herself or others; OR
  
• The person has significant medical and/or physical needs. Examples would include the need to be closely monitored for uncontrolled seizures or respiratory problems, the need for special feeding or care of a gastrostomy, tracheotomy or special equipment; OR
  
• The person has significant self help skill deficits for his/her age. Examples would include adolescents or adults who are unable to feed, toilet or ambulate independently; OR
  
• There is severe family stress such as illness, more than one family member with a developmental disability, or the chronic illness, age, or disability of the primary caregiver, which precludes care of the person with a developmental disability or may result in the potential for neglect or abuse; OR
  
• There is a family emergency (illness of a family member, death of a relative, hospitalization of a parent, etc.).

When the above criteria is met, up to 16 hours of respite service per month may be provided. Up to two nights per month of out of home respite may be substituted for 16 in home respite hours.

Respite hours may be accumulated during the period authorized to provide flexibility in the use of respite. The period of authorization will be determined on an individual basis and in no case will be authorized for longer than one year at a time.

ADOPTED BY BOARD OF DIRECTORS: February 1997