What to expect with Respite

To access our Respite care, a referral is required. This can come from a NASC or an EGL connector or Disability Support Link. Families can then use their allocated Respite nights to access this service.

Before a child’s stay, someone from our team will work in partnership with you and your whaanau/family to develop a Care and Support Plan.

• This plan documents the support needs of your child.
• It ensures we all share a collective understanding of the child’s requirements.
• Specific information from the plan is used to train staff in best practice support for your child.
• The document creates a shared reference point for staff members, managers, and you as the child’s whaanau/family.
• Your preferences for contact during the stay will be discussed and documented within this plan.
• Information regarding allergies and intolerances will be recorded within the plan.
• This Care and Support Plan will be updated annually.

Times to be spent in respite need to be pre-booked in advance.

• To ensure we can meet your requirements, booking three months in advance is recommended.
• We are unable to offer short notice or emergency respite.
• Families will receive a mixed allocation of weekend, weekday, and holiday bookings.
• Please try to arrange pickups and drop off to be at the same time.
• Please drop off and pick up at the times arranged as staff are rostered on to these specific times.
• Drop off is recommended no earlier than 9 am and no later than 4:30 pm.

If you need to cancel a booking, please inform us as soon as possible.

• We need at least 48 hours’ notice.
• Without 48 hours’ notice, the booking will be deducted from the allocated nights.
• This notice period enables another whaanau/family to access respite during the time you had originally booked, as staff would have already been rostered.

Children and young people coming to respite are required to bring:

• Clothing and shoes
• Medication
• Toiletries
• Incontinence products (if required)

Children and young people coming to respite can bring:

• One favourite toy (please name)
• Bedding if child prefers their own (we do provide bedding)
• Comfort items
• Other activity items

Please leave at home:

Treat foods

Money

To best ensure all items make it home safely from respite, we recommend naming clothing, toys, and personal items. While we take all care to look after belongings, we regret we cannot take responsibility for loss or damage to items.

All medication that is given is signed for on signing sheets and noted in electronic daily notes.

• Support staff are legally unable to provide medication that is different to the prescription/script or administration instruction on over the counter medications, even if asked to by families.
• Medication needs to have the correct time and date on the pack.
• Please ask the Pharmacy for a medication signing sheet.
• All staff have medication training as part of their work orientation package.

We know that some children and young people have foods that they are allergic or intolerant to. This information will be discussed and included in the Care and Support Plan. We also know that many young people have strong food preferences. Staff understand and have experience accommodating these sorts of dietary preferences. All meals are provided for the period of respite, including packed school lunches if required.

As part of the recruitment process, all staff members working at the respite service have been police checked. Additional checks are completed by Oranga Tamariki (formerly CYFS). All staff receive training as part of their work orientation, including medication training.

All children are supported with 1:1 staffing. If a child requires 2:1 support, extra funding is sourced.

Contact with the staff team during respite is dependent on individual families’ preferences.

• Your preferences will be discussed when the Care and Support Plan is written.
• Some families choose not to make contact.
• Some families have ongoing text contact.
• Some choose to have a text at the end of the respite.

As we have a number of children within the respite service at any one time, out of respect for others, if your child or young person displays any of the following symptoms, you will be asked to collect them and take them home:

• Rash
• Vomiting
• Fever
• Diarrhoea
• Pain that cannot be relieved with approved PRN medication
• Covid Symptoms

All other concerns will be communicated with you and a management or pick up/drop off arrangement sorted.

• If children are going to school after respite, they will be given a packed lunch if required.
• If they are due to return home from respite after school, they will take their packed bags to school with them, unless otherwise arranged.
• If a child or young person has respite booked after school and needs to leave school for a reason other than illness (e.g., behaviour), the respite team may be in a position to collect your child. Please provide the school with the necessary contact details.

Transportation is not included in our Respite funding, unless otherwise quoted for. Parents/caregivers are usually expected to drop off and pick up from our Leong Avenue location, unless otherwise arranged.

We appreciate that some people have specific needs around transport and their routines. Please contact the Service Manager, and we will try our best to accommodate. We can also coordinate pick-ups and drop offs with the school buses to and from Leong avenue.

There may be times when you are actively seeking to teach your child a new skill, such as aspects of healthy eating or toileting. Please inform us so we can know what to expect and may even be able to further support what you are working on together.