respite care

AARP recently released a report titled “Respite Services: A Critical Support for Family Caregivers,” exploring respite, its impact on family caregivers, and barriers to its use. In this report, AARP reviews federal and state programs that provide and/or pay for respite, including some examples of innovative programs that currently exist in communities. AARP also provides recommendations toward improvements in respite research and offers insights into how some respite programs are being scaled up.

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) has announced the selection of eight new grantees for the Lifespan Respite Care Program in FY 2023. Among these, seven states - Arizona, Idaho, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington - have been awarded cooperative agreements, with these awards totaling $2,699,847. These agreements are designated for four-year initiatives granted under the State Program Enhancement Grants. The primary objective is to expand and enhance access to equitable respite services for caregivers across all age groups, disabilities, and chronic conditions, while also improving coordination among various state programs. Delaware was awarded an additional cooperative agreement totaling...

Access to culturally appropriate respite care can support caregivers and allow people with dementia to continue aging in place. The International Association for Indigenous Aging has announced a new Indigenous respite care toolkit that aims to help build capacity for community-based respite care. The toolkit is a collaborative effort of Morning Star Lodge, an Indigenous community-based health research lab, File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council and a community research advisory committee comprised of people from 11 First Nations communities.

This report captures State Grantee accomplishments, highlighting the knowledge, commitment, ingenuity, and skillful stewardship and administration of resources. Through their work, state Lifespan Respite grantees provide evidence of the merit of the Lifespan Respite Care Program, and inform our path forward.

ARCH has developed voluntary guidelines for the operation of respite care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many communities are re-opening, and this document aims to help respite providers plan to resume services in the safest way possible. This handbook includes decision making guides on when it is safe to receive or provide respite, highlights important considerations for respite care during COVID-19, and summarizes key resources for respite agencies and family caregivers to learn more.