Respite Care

Caring for displaced children can be taxing on the individuals caring for them. This may be a factor that deters people to become foster parents, further contributing to the issue of foster children not having adequate places to live. An existing solution to this problem is respite care; however it is in need of some improvement. Respite care is a secondary home for foster children; this is set up in such a way that the children are placed in a primary foster home where they reside most of the night, but they will temporarily stay with another approved care giver for a few days in a month – depending on the needs of the foster children and parents. This is a very healthy solution, as it gives the foster parents a break from full time care of someone with intensive needs (foster parents are not allowed to hire babysitters), and it gives the foster children a secondary role model to offer them support and compassion. The issue lies in that respite care is not readily available to most foster families; we spoke to a respite caregiver who told us that the primary foster parents of the children she cares for had to fight to receive respite care for just one weekend a month! This is unfortunately the case in too many circumstances – there are very few people available to give respite care, so it only goes to the most extreme cases. Many people do not even know such an option exists. Respite care may be a much more attractive option to those wanting to help displaced children, but cannot dedicate the time and resources into being a full time foster parent, and by increasing awareness of the option of respite care and recruiting more nurturing and supportive respite parents will strengthen the foster care system and allow these children to become successful.