Respite care

Respite care is designed to provide planned regular short breaks for both children and adults with a disability to give carers a break from the daily routine of care giving and to provide opportunities for new experiences to the child or adult with a disability.

Your local Social Services Department may be able to provide a respite service or funding to enable you to purchase this type of service.

Whether or not you get a service is likely to depend on the local authorities individual eligibility criteria, which are usually linked to the severity of the disability. The service may be provided in a number of ways: residential respite care, family link programmes or night sitters.

Residential Respite Care

This may be provided directly by the local authority or they may pay for a local voluntary organisation to provide the service. People who qualify will usually be able to go and stay in a residential establishment for a couple of nights a month. These may be at a weekend or during the week. Everyday activities such as school would be attended as usual.

Family Link

This is a form of respite care that is provided by another family in their own homes. (Family Link Families will have undergone an assessment similar to that for foster parents.) This service may be provided during the day or may include an overnight stay. It is normally provided at weekends although for some severely disabled children, it may also occur during the week. The child would usually attend school as normal although in some cases arrangements may need to be made with transport providers.

Night sitters

Families with a person who needs a lot of attention during the night may be eligible for someone to come and sit with their child during the night so that the parents/carers can have an uninterrupted nights sleep on a regular basis.

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