Respite Care

Respite care gives families temporary relief from the challenges of caring for a child with a developmental disability whether this relief is for a few hours, a day, a weekend or longer depends on the families needs.
Respite care aims to strengthen the family unit. The program allows families to rest, take a vacation, tend to life’s necessities, or deal with stressful situations such as illness, death or moving.
Respite care is not a luxury; it is essential for a family’s well-being. It can prevent parents from becoming so stressed and fatigued that they can no longer cope with the special needs of their child or respond to the needs of other family members.

	To support children with special needs and their families
	To enable families to have options and choices when
	making decisions for their children
	To promote awareness and acceptance of special needs
	children and their families within the community
	To encourage open and equal access to all community
	resources and services

This comprehensive approach provides complementary learning opportunities and focuses on the development and functional use of age appropriate skills for each child.

Respite care gives children with special needs an opportunity to participate in a wider range of experiences essential for normal development, such as:
 

	On-going relationships and social interaction outside the
	family unit
	Contact with children who model age-appropriate
	behaviours, if the caregiver has children
	Growing independence through new learning experiences
	Inclusion in community activities
	Inclusion in community activities

In April 2001, the Reach Child and Youth Development Society began a group respite program to serve families on the wait list for the general respite program. Twenty-one children with special needs are being served in total. In addition, up to 7 typical children (usually siblings) are served through this program. As well as giving parents of special needs children some much needed respite, the group respite program’s main focus has been to promote the children’s special skills development, facilitate the building of friendships, promote positive self esteem and community awareness, and to decrease possible isolation. The programs runs the first Saturday of each month providing families with 5.5 hours of respite per month. The program is staffed by 6 well trained and experienced caregivers, an assistant coordinator, and a program coordinator. The children are divided into two groups depending on their age. One group is for children 4 to 9 years and another group is for children 9 to 18 years.
 

To access this funding, families must have a referral from their social worker.  For more information call 604-946-6622 and contact Program Coordinators: Melanie Reid, ext. 305 or Group Respite Coordinator: Dawn Beazley, ext. 306.