Respite Care Services for Families Who Adopt Children With Special Needs, Page 2

A Synthesis of Demonstration Program Final Reports (4/02)

Project Descriptions

The eight projects synthesized in this report were conducted in Alabama, Arizona, New Jersey, the Northwest region of the United States (a multi-state project serving six States), Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas. Contact information and an overview of project components are provided in the appendices.

Each project demonstrated a unique effort to improve or expand respite care services in their target area to families who had adopted children with special needs. One project developed a replicable training curriculum for providers and families, while seven delivered respite care services.

Respite Care Provider Recruitment
Various recruitment methods were used by the projects, but the most successful method of recruitment for many projects involved adoptive families referring people they already knew to become respite providers. Many of these potential providers were "natural helpers," relatives or friends of the adoptive families who were already providing some child care services for the adopted children. In addition, all of the projects recruited respite care providers who were previously unknown to the families - people who agreed to participate in training and provide respite services. As part of these efforts, some projects recruited providers from the ranks of foster parents, adoptive parents, and prospective adoptive parents because these families had already received training in issues such as child development and behavior management.

Provider Training/Licensure
All projects provided some level of pre-service training for providers, and most provided some type of ongoing or in-service training. While all projects provided training for newly-recruited providers, many also trained natural helpers who had been referred by adoptive families. Some projects trained providers and families together.

Target Population
Most projects offered services to families who had adopted children with a variety of special needs, but some targeted children with specific needs such as developmental disabilities or severe physical challenges. In addition to serving families in which adoptions had been finalized, at least half of the programs also offered services to families who had not yet finalized their adoptions. Some programs served only families who had adopted through the local public agency, while other programs served families who had adopted through public or private agencies. Target geographic areas for the projects ranged from a single city, to regions within a state, to statewide, to a multi-state region.

Recruitment of Families
Numerous methods were used to recruit families for the projects. These included letters sent to prospective families, word of mouth from adoptive families already participating in the program, presentations at parent support groups, requests that adoption agency staff market the program to their families, public service announcements, and articles in newsletters and newspapers.

Respite Services Offered
Of the projects that provided respite services, all provided hourly services and special events such as family retreats and group outings. Some projects also offered weekend respite and weeklong camps. Most provided both in-home and out-of-home respite services. Unique offerings included residential respite and tutoring-based respite.

Project Management/Administration
Three projects were headed by university-affiliated programs, three by public child welfare agencies, and two by local private organizations. Most involved some form of collaboration; for example, one project collaborated with a neighborhood faith-based organization. Another utilized volunteers from parent support groups to manage the services. Some projects contracted with vendors to provide services.

Information Dissemination
Most projects presented information at state and national meetings and conferences and developed brochures about their projects. Two projects produced training manuals that can be used by others, and one produced a resource book of respite providers.

Evaluation Activities
Almost all projects reviewed program documentation and noted accomplishment of the project's tasks and objectives. Most projects conducted surveys and/or interviews of families about their experiences, needs, concerns, satisfaction, and/or assessment of the program's impact on them. Two projects also interviewed staff about their experiences with the program.

Credits: Child Welfare Information Gateway (http://www.childwelfare.gov)

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