What Is Adult Foster Care?
Adult foster care offers mentally or physically impaired or ailing adults around the clock support that they would less likely get from their own caregivers or family. Many times caregivers are no longer able to care for the adult and the only option would be to place them into the adult foster care system. Many times adult foster care homes are large residential homes that function like a traditional, mainstream home to teach these adults function and interact to the best of their ability. Adult foster care homes need to be licensed and are governed by the state in which the home resides in. Considering all of the facts with the types of homes as well as the length of stay will help a caregiver make an informed choice on where to send their loved one to.
Significance
Adult foster care is set up to where a staff of qualified individuals who hold state licenses care for impaired individuals in a group or home setting. Many of these people have severe mental impairments, are classified as mentally ill, physically or emotionally disabled or have an age related neurological disease such as Alzheimer's or Dementia. Adult foster care provides a safe haven and functioning environment for these individuals so that they can be taken care of properly and not injure themselves or others in society. Some elderly persons are also placed in adult foster care, especially those who are severely mentally or physically impaired, but generally elderly patients enter an assisted living community, receive assistance in their homes or are moved to a nursing home as they age and are unable to take of themselves.
Benefits
Some of the benefits to one living in an adult foster care home is that there is twenty four hour around the clock care provided at all times. The staff is trained to take care of high risk adults who pose health risks, are abusive or have mental impairments which may be difficult for the average person to understand, making an adult foster care facility the best placement for an impaired individual due to the home having trained staff to handle difficult patients and situations. Clinical supervisors, home health aides, volunteers as well as nurses provide assistance to impaired individuals such as planned games and activities, showering or sponge baths, grooming and dressing, eating assistance, physical exercise, toileting and administering certain medications. Adult foster care is a great to tool to for parents and caregivers to utilize if they are no longer able to care for their loved one.
Features
Some of the features offered at adult foster care homes is that they provide group activities so the impaired person can learn to function around other people with disabilities and also with society in general. Most foster care facilities work on slightly mainstreaming many of their adults into the public by taking them to social settings such as grocery stores, clothing stores, parks and movie theaters. Most adult foster care homes are equipped with handicap accessible ramps and personal hygiene devices that make movement and personal care easier on the worker and the foster adult. Planned meals designed toward certain diet specifications are also added features that most facilities offer to those with diet restrictions or requirements.
Time Frame
Most adult foster care homes house residents who will remain there for the rest of their lives or until they need to be placed in a nursing care facility. Some residents have lived in the same adult foster care home for several years or have been moved from home to home frequently. The waiting list for most adult foster care homes can take up to one to three years before a bed is available for the patient.
Types
The most popular type of adult foster care is an adult group home which can legally house up to twenty patients at a time. This setting allows for professional staff to be present providing around the clock care especially to those who require constant attention, although many homes require the adult to be somewhat able to care for themselves and not require constant medical attention such as being bed ridden or hooked up to life support machines. Some homes are actually facilities which house several hundred adults who are mentally impaired at the same time, these institutions may or may not have sole custody of the adults. There are some homes that house the impaired who are wards of the state and the state has custody of all of the residents and will decide on the best course of treatment and action for the adults residing there. There are also adult foster care day care centers which look after impaired adults or elderly adults for only certain hours of the day to provide respite care or day care for patients whose caregivers need to work or seek a break from care giving. These types of homes are gaining in popularity especially with family members and caregivers who do not want to place their loved ones in a nursing home.
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