Lifespan Respite Best Practices: Lifespan Respite Services Program & Nebraska Lifespan Respite Network

This presentation and discussion was made to the ARCH Respite Voucher Learning Collaborative on April 10, 2025.

Lifespan Respite Best Practices

Nebraska Lifespan Respite Services Program & Nebraska Lifespan Respite Network

Hanna Quiring, Administrator, and Daniel Petersen, Program Coordinator, Division of Developmental Disabilities, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, shared the history of the NE Lifespan Respite Network (established by state legislation enacted in 1999), and described the program’s regional structure that helps support a statewide coordinated respite system, a defining characteristic of  a Lifespan Respite Care program best practice. They also discussed the nuts and bolts of Nebraska’s Lifespan Respite Services Program that helps families pay for respite care, focusing on step-by-step guidance on implementing a program, how to reach family caregivers, how to grow and sustain it, and how to identify and avoid pitfalls along the way.