Innovative and Exemplary Respite Services

While there is shared agreement that offering respite to caregivers to temporarily relieve them of constant caregiving responsibilities is a worthwhile endeavor, there is scant research to support the best ways to offer respite so that benefits from receiving respite accrue to caregivers, care recipients and their families.

Myriad important questions about respite await answers. How should providers go about establishing trusting and lasting relationships with caregivers and care recipients? What is dosage and frequency of respite are necessary for caregivers to realize decreases in stress? What personal qualities are important to identify and nurture in paid providers and volunteers?  Can respite programs reduce the need for out-of-home placements for care recipients?

To answer these questions and more, to demonstrate the merit of respite services, and to ensure accountability to caregivers and families, each year ARCH recognizes Innovative and Exemplary Respite Services from a pool of applicants in North America.

The overriding purpose of ARCH’s Innovative and Exemplary Services initiative is to establish a registry of programs and services to help advance our collective understanding of what respite best practices mean. We accomplish this by documenting the ways and the extent to which applicant services meet criteria, each carefully defined and observable, in seven key areas:

1. using an evidence-based or evidence-informed approach;

2. having written goals and objectives;

3. having a program/service manual or guide to facilitate replication with fidelity;

4. offering person and family-centered services;

5. having a professional development plan;

6. having an evaluation plan and collecting data according to that plan;

7. and being sustainable as an organization.

Services meeting all criteria in full are Innovative and Exemplary, and are especially valuable in furthering our collective understanding of respite. These services clearly define how respite occurs in their organization, document that respite is occurring as intended, and they show beneficial changes occurring in the lives of caregivers and/or care recipients related to the respite services they used.

Services identified as Innovative use a delivery approach that is novel and/or unique to a specific community or population for whom it is intended, and meet most criteria as defined in the ARCH framework, but have not yet implemented a rigorous evaluation of their service that allows replication of their approach.

ARCH also recognizes Rising Star services that offer person and family-centered services, but have not yet met all criteria for Innovative or Exemplary practice. Rising Stars offer respite services in ways that are readily recognizable as worthwhile, and that we hope will be documented and evaluated in the future to demonstrate their merit and allow replication by others.

For Selection Criteria, see Definition of Innovative and Exemplary.

The ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center seeks exemplary and innovative respite services from across the U.S. and Canada.

We wish to learn more about respite services that are evidence-based or evidence informed, that appear promising, or that are trying new service models. Further, they need to have some preliminary data or plan to collect data that demonstrate benefits to caregivers, care recipients, and/or family systems.

We are looking for respite services that address some challenging aspect of respite care delivery, such as reaching rural or military family caregivers, individuals with mental health and/or behavioral issues, grandparent or relative caregivers, or adults with disabilities and chronic conditions, for example.

Given the effect of the pandemic, we also welcome applications from programs that may have creatively redefined their respite services to meet family caregivers' current and evolving needs for support and social connections, or modified their respite services, eligibility, or location to enhance respite service flexibility and access.

ARCH is also seeking respite services that use exemplary or innovative approaches to enhancing access to respite or improving quality of services and address questions, such as:

• Does the respite service provide inclusive activities in the community that are enjoyable and meaningful for the care recipient and others?
• Does the respite service collect caregiver/care recipient/family outcome data that describe improved well-being and ability to remain at home (beyond just service satisfaction)?
• Does the respite service help family caregivers plan to make the most of their respite time by engaging in activities most meaningful to them?
• Does the respite service attract and retain highly qualified respite providers or volunteers?
• Was the respite service provider able to adapt to challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that the respite provided remained meaningful to the family caregiver, the care recipient and the family?  Were the changes successful enough to make them permanent?

These questions are meant only to suggest examples of what might be considered Exemplary or Innovative and are not meant to be limiting descriptors. We welcome creativity, especially in these challenging times!

The services selected by ARCH for recognition may demonstrate practices that are Exemplary, Innovative or both Innovative and Exemplary. Services may also be recognized as Rising Stars. Rising Stars have demonstrated a person and family-centered approach, but have not yet met all criteria for Innovative or Exemplary practice.

Please read additional definitions of respite and special needs. 

We invite you to nominate your service if you believe it is strong overall, or if it has areas of strength that you wish to share with others. If selected, your services will be recognized as a potential model for replication and become part of a national network of respite services committed to providing person and family-centered respite services.  Recognized services will receive: 

• National recognition for outstanding work, including publicity through ARCH’s website, publications, and social media outlets;

• A letter of support from ARCH, upon request;

• An official Innovative and/or Exemplary Respite Services logo for use on website and other materials; and

• A certificate recognizing this accomplishment.

Respite services recognized as both Innovative AND Exemplary, will be recognized at the National Lifespan Respite Conference.

Once a service has been recognized as Innovative, Exemplary or both, or as a Rising Star, the designation is valid for three years. At the end of this time period, ARCH will request updated information from recognized services on the status of the services(s), including any new developments or major changes, and to assess the program's capacity to continue to ensure program quality, innovation, and sustainability. There is no need for a service recognized in a prior year to complete another application. 

The application was designed to help us identify real life “best practice” respite care services. We plan to use the information   we gather:

• to encourage innovation and quality in respite services nationwide;

• to promote person and family-centered services that are desired by family caregivers and the persons in their care;

• in a national on-line data base of exemplary respite services to share with the media, funders, government agencies, individuals, organizations and others searching for model services to replicate;

• to inform national training and technical assistance;

• in publications about respite care; and

• to help advocate for new respite services, enhance existing services, and move toward evidence-based practices.

The application will re-open in Summer 2023. 

• Complete the short pre-application checklist to see if your respite service qualifies.  You must be able to respond "YES" to each question to qualify. Programs that cannot answer yes to all three Pre-Application Screening questions cannot be considered for a full review.

• Complete the application online.  We strongly encourage you to preview the questions in advance and read the instructions before attempting to complete the online application.

Watch the Information Session from 2022

Application Coming Soon

The Conversations on Caregiving podcast series highlights the work of individual Innovative and Exemplary respite programs and services across the nation.

Listen to the Podcasts. 

2022 Information Session for Potential Applicants

Webinars and Conference Presentations

Webinar: Innovative and Exemplary Respite Services, January 27, 2021. Learn about recognized programs in 2019 and 2020.

Models of Exemplary & Innovative Practices in Respite Care/Short Break Programs in the U.S. Presentation at the International Short Break Conference, June 2021.

ARCH Innovative and Exemplary Respite Services Presentations at the International Short Break Association Conference, 2021.

For Program Recognition

2019 Press Release
2020 Press Release
2021 Press Release
2022 Press Release

Renewal of I&E Status

2023 Press Release on Renewal of I&E Status for 11 Respite Programs