Preserving Families in Ohio through Respite Care

Feb 19

The Journey to Success Campaign advocates for federal policy change to achieve better outcomes for youth who have experienced foster care. Many of our recommendations include policies and practices that are already being implemented in states and communities across the country, but could benefit from being available to all youth who spend time in foster care. Our Spotlight on Success series highlights programs and policies that exemplify the recommendations in the Journey to Success policy framework.

Many parents, young people, and child welfare staff share the belief that parents don’t receive the right services – or in some cases any services at all – to help them keep their families together. In too many cases, parents just need a break from the challenges of caregiving and lack the social or family networks that most families rely on when the stress of parenting becomes too much.

Ohio's largest Medicaid plan, CareSource, provides a respite care program through which parents can receive in- or out-of-home support, including having their children stay with another family for a day, night, or weekend. The program can also help with other needs, such as in-home supervision and meal preparation, hourly or by the day, for up to 13 consecutive days. These services are intended to reduce parental stress and keep families together. While the program has no formal ties to the state's child welfare agency, referrals are received by local child welfare agencies for families that are system involved but who retain legal custody of their children. The program is not available to children in state child protective custody, though it is available to parents whose children were previously in foster care as well as adoptive families.

Research on the program has shown decreased emergency room visits and inpatient behavioral health service usage among clients who received respite services, and the program is now expanding to serve families beyond CareSource. The second Medicaid plan to feature the program is Aetna Better Health of Ohio, which is now the top payor in Ohio for children’s respite care through the Medicaid program.

Mark Mecum of Ohio Children’s Alliance shared that in addition to demonstrating incredible outcomes and exceeding expectations, the program has also confirmed that providing access to respite care can be a viable alternative to even the most intensive and restrictive behavioral health services, including inpatient hospitalization and placement into residential treatment centers.