While parenthood offers countless moments of joy and delight, we all know the pendulum can swing in the direction of exhaustion and demand without warning. Parents need time for themselves - to socialise, practice self-care, or simply rest. Although many parents and carers have support networks or access to respite care provided by local authorities, this isn’t always the case. This lack of support is particularly challenging for adoptive parents, who often face a significant shortage of respite care options. In this article, we will provide you with some background on respite care, who it is available for and its effectiveness. We’ll also discuss the barriers adoptive parents face accessing respite care, and lastly, seek your opinion on whether it should be universally available for all adoptive parents.
To share your thoughts, we have created a survey available through this link: https://forms.office.com/e/B0j9NDA5jZ
Who’s it for?
For those who have experience with respite care, you will be aware it provides temporary relief from caregiver responsibilities. This involves another carer coming into your home to take over caring responsibilities or providing a placement elsewhere either for the day or overnight, for a short period. This can include personal care, companionship, childcare and more.
Respite care can be provided privately or publicly, though accessibility and eligibility vary. Foster carers, for example, often receive respite days from agencies—typically at least seven days a year. Some local councils, like Swindon, offer up to 14 days of respite for foster carers. However, for those who aren’t eligible or need more time, a local council needs assessment is required.
Respite: Is it successful?
When asked what support carers expect, respite is commonly mentioned within that list. Having some time to rest and rejuvenate away from regular responsibilities can do a world of good for us all. For example, foster carers have stated respite reduced stress, provided a break from their responsibilities and freed up more time to spend with their biological families. However, respite is not always smooth sailing. On the other hand, foster carers have mentioned personal barriers to respite. This includes apprehension and worry their foster children may feel abandoned or sent away. This was attributed to the inconsistency of respite placements and carers, possibly creating confusion for children. Therefore, although respite can have many benefits for carers, it is not as simple of a solution to give caregivers a break, as it may seem at first glance.
Respite: What options are available for adopters?
As mentioned above, respite care options are readily available for some carers. However, the options for adopted parents are more limited. Adoptive parents may have a support network of family and friends to rely on to provide them a well-deserved break from their responsibilities, yet this is not always the case. Adopted children may have behavioural and emotional difficulties which could make relying on support networks tricky. For parents without support networks, paying for respite may be the only option. However, the cost of childcare in a cost-of-living crisis is far from ideal and may make this option unrealistic for many. If this can be afforded, inconsistent carers and placements may not be helpful for the child either.
This leaves adoptive parents in a choppy water, with nowhere to go if they can’t afford respite or are unsure of their children’s reactions to respite placements.
Your opinions
Considering the limited options available and possible challenges of respite care for adopters, we wish to get your opinion on the topic. If you are interested in providing us your opinions, we have gratefully provided a link below, including a mixture of short and long answer questions. This will take approximately 5 minutes to complete. Thank you in advance for your answers and the time taken to complete our survey.
Survey link: https://forms.office.com/e/B0j9NDA5jZ
Support
Find out what care is available to you from your local authority through the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/apply-short-term-care-for-child
Further reading
If you wish to read around the topic more, we have provided some links below to journal articles and government pages:
The foster carer’s experience: An integrative review: https://www.collegianjournal.com/article/S1322-7696(12)00117-5/abstract
The impact of formal and informal respite care on Foster, adoptive, and kinship parents caring for children involved in the child welfare system: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10560-016-0447-3
NHS, Carers' breaks and respite care:
Swindon Borough Council:
The concept of respite care:
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