respite care

[lorraines little treasures]

i have started doing respite care for a company who deal with families that find it hard and need help,
sometimes i only have the child for few hrs, sometimes it for few days,
can anyone help me as at the moment i dont do contracts with them ,can anyone suggest what i need , do i need the short term ones or is it ok just to write the childs details in a book,please help as dont want to be doing it wrong .

[aly]

i have started doing respite care for a company who deal with families that find it hard and need help,
sometimes i only have the child for few hrs, sometimes it for few days,
can anyone help me as at the moment i dont do contracts with them ,can anyone suggest what i need , do i need the short term ones or is it ok just to write the childs details in a book,please help as dont want to be doing it wrong .
I made the mistake of not doing contract for my 3 day child this week please do contracts...you can do a normal contract but state it as ad-hoc.
I have 2 before nad after schoolers but its not contracted days as mum works shifts. still 1 contract though.

[lorraines little treasures]

i might look after a child for a few hrs then when they get picked up never see them again, so would it be ok to do short term contracts as its just when they need me to look after a child ,or does anyone have their own short term contract i could look at as ncma only do 5 in a pack,and dont fancy keep buying them all the time.

[The Juggler]

Is it via social services. Do they not have their own contracts?

[lorraines little treasures]

its through the young peoples services, no they dont do they own contracts as they said its not for long term, its just whe needs or a chils , even at short notice they can ring me like they did this morning, for a child for 4hrs. but i need something so i can keep a record of the children i care for, like contracts for the other children in my care, as shot term contracts only cover fo a month.

[youarewhatyoueat]

Who pays you, if the payment is up front then why would you need a contract, or if you are paid by the young peoples services then the agreement is with them, but I see no reason to have a contract if you never see the child again there's no contract to breach.It may be worth getting the payment details agreed in writing. Just out of interest how did you find out about this as respite care is something I would like to do. Caroline
Perhaps ring ofsted and see what they require you to have for your records.

[huggableshelly]

I looked into this and didnt take it any further as couldnt offer a day.

My understanding of the setup was that the company who runs it give you the details you need, contact details medication and a book to write in that is then passed back to the carer/parent.

i didnt contact Ofsted or the NCMA as didnt go any further with the set up.

Call Ofsted ask them exactly what you are expected to do for paperwork for this kind of care expalining what is already in place (check with the company)

then make a call to your insurance company and ask them for advice.
My thoughts were to set up paperwork that is linked to the company rather than individual children because some are only for a couple of hours as a one off some are longer term. Find out if you are covered to take on respite with your current set up and what they advise with contracts, you may be fine with a 30 day temp contract but would be nicer if its like a kinda hand over contract (gawd i hope that makes sense).

I know the company with do their own checks and have their own paperwork too, i was told training for medication would be given if needed or a nurse would come in to administer.

EVERYTHING must be logged and you keep a copy too.

good luck with it, when my numbers drop I'll be thinking about it again too.

[singlewiththree]

i have started doing respite care for a company who deal with families that find it hard and need help,
sometimes i only have the child for few hrs, sometimes it for few days,
can anyone help me as at the moment i dont do contracts with them ,can anyone suggest what i need , do i need the short term ones or is it ok just to write the childs details in a book,please help as dont want to be doing it wrong .

I do temporary care for people and I always get them to sign a contract, I make it myself and would be happy to email it to you. I usually do a MM contact form as most of mine are single parents and the question of parental responsibility on an official form makes it easier for me. I then use my single page contract form.