Respite/Individual and Family Support Services

Help for Families

Benhaven’s respite program provides trained staff to support individuals with autism or mental retardation. This is targeted to provide families or primary caregivers with temporary relief from ongoing care giving responsibilities. Services are provided in the home or in the community, which gives the individuals an opportunity to participate in community activities, form new relationships, and generally pursue their own interests. It also gives families a break to go shopping, visit the doctor, go out to dinner or to a movie, clean a closet, spend time with other family members or friends, take a class, or anything else they would like to do.

Benhaven currently gets funding support from three sources:

• The Respite Training Initiative. Funded by the Connecticut Department of Mental Retardation, this program allows funding for up to 10 hours per week of respite for individuals eligible to receive service from the DMR South Region. Most referrals are made by DMR case managers.
• Family Support Grants and Self Determination Participants. These are grants from the Connecticut Department of Mental Retardation to families and individuals, who retain discretion as to which services to purchase. Benhaven works with families and individuals supported by these programs to train, hire and coordinate individual support. These referrals come from DMR support brokers.
• Connecticut Department of Children and Families. DCF case managers arrange with Benhaven on a case by case basis to provide respite as part of an overall community support plan.

Respite care providers receive classroom training involving the areas of health and safety such as CPR and basic first aid, understanding disabilities, abuse and neglect prevention, and other pertinent instruction that reflects Benhaven’s values and commitment to quality service provision. For respite care providers to be certified, the State Department of Public Safety completes a background check. Each respite care provider applies to be in Benhaven’s Respite/Individual Support Services Program and (if selected) goes through a screening process to meet standards involving education, references and a police check. Once qualified and trained, the respite providers become employees of Benhaven. Families are asked to verify the respite workers hours and sign their time sheets at the end of the pay period, but are not otherwise responsible for payroll, taxes, or other employer issues.

One aspect of Benhaven’s respite program that sets it apart from a typical home care registry or employment service, is the assessment and coordination provided by the Respite Coordinator. Each new family is visited and the needs of the individual are carefully evaluated, as are the goals for the respite service. Providers with the required characteristics are then recruited, most often specifically for that individual situation. In this way, we most often get the best possible fit between the individual, the family, and the provider. Once a match is made, the Coordinator visits to observe, and provides specific program directions, in collaboration with the family and the individual. We believe that this approach has allowed us to be successful with individuals who have failed in other programs.

This family support and respite service has been very well received. It has tripled in size in the past three years. As of December 2003, approximately 200 hours of respite is being provided per week. The reasons for this are very clear. In addition to the help the family receives, the benefits to the individual being supported are often very significant. For many, this is one of the few opportunities they have to take advantage of interesting and enjoyable places and activities in the community. They are often learning to use the resources in their community, something they might not be able to do without this special support.

For many families, this support is a key factor for a family’s ability to keep their son or daughter living at home. This is not only helping families stay together; it also results in cost savings to the State of Connecticut of $60,000 to $70,000 per child per year.

Benhaven has a standing opening for respite providers. Respite work can be very rewarding and a great way to earn extra income while having fun. Click here to learn more about the duties and requirements of a respite provider.