Respite care can be a good option when parents need a break from the daily stresses of parenting or have obligations that may prevent them from including their child. The following resources provide information about respite services for resource families.
Asking Others for Help
Powell (2015)
The Kinship Parenting Toolbox: A Unique Guidebook for the Kinship Care Parenting Journey
Presents resources for kinship providers’ needs and the unique challenges they face when raising children. The articles aim to improve the well-being and safety of children in kinship care while supporting their providers.
Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children: Respite Care: Fact Sheet (PDF - 130 KB)
Generations United (2007)
Provides information on types of respite care, local strategies for providing respite care to relatives raising children, and model programs to replicate.
Making Arrangements for Foster Care Respite (PDF - 403 KB)
Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association (2011)
Reviews steps foster and adoptive parents can take when making plans for respite care.
Respite and Crisis Care (PDF - 101 KB)
FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (2007)
Describes the components and benefits of respite programs, characteristics of families that need respite services, and research on the effectiveness of respite programs in reducing the incidence of child maltreatment.
Respite Care
National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections
Provides a collection of respite care resources.
Respite for Families Caring for Children Who Are Medically Fragile (PDF - 256 KB)
Kagan & Edgar (2014)
ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center
Provides a basic overview of useful information for respite providers who work with individuals and families with children who are medically fragile. The fact sheet provides information on the incidence of medically fragile children, the challenges faced by families with medically fragile children, barriers to respite facing family caregivers of children who are medically fragile, help for families to find, select, and pay for respite, and highlights successful respite programs.
Strengthening Grandfamilies Through Respite Care (PDF - 317 KB)
Family Strengthening Policy Center (2007)
Reviews promising practices for using respite care as a family-strengthening strategy for grandparents raising grandchildren. This policy brief also makes Federal, State, and local policy recommendations to advance the availability and accessibility of respite care.
Understanding Respite
Leidner (2015)
The Kinship Parenting Toolbox: A Unique Guidebook for the Kinship Care Parenting Journey
Presents resources for kinship providers’ needs and the unique challenges they face when raising children. The articles aim to improve the well-being and safety of children in kinship care while supporting their providers.