Youth Respite

The Respite Voucher program is here to support families with children who have Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) or both autism and SED. This program helps cover the cost of giving caregivers a break by paying for respite services.

Families in the program can choose and train their own respite provider, and the voucher helps pay for this care.

This program is offered by the Tennessee Caregivers Coalition. To learn more, call 615-269-8687 or visit their website at www.tncaregiver.org.

Planned Respite is a special program that helps caregivers of children with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) learn how to get and use respite care.

This program teaches caregivers how to find and train people to care for their children, giving them, immediately needed breaks. It also provides some immediate respite care to help right away.

If you are a caregiver of a child aged 2-15 with SED, you can join Planned Respite. The program lasts about 3 months, and families can join once.

You can find Planned Respite in these counties, provided by the following agencies:

To qualify for a Respite Voucher, a caregiver and a care recipient must live in the home together. The caregiver is the person who is taking care of the care recipient full-time, 24/7. Caregivers of children, ages 2–15, with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) are eligible to participate in Planned Respite, which lasts about 3 months and families may enroll once.

Care coordination services are available to children and youth ages 0–18 experiencing emotional or behavioral concerns that affect their daily life.

Planned Respite Sites are Located in: Anderson, Carter, Knox, Madison, Rutherford, Shelby, Sullivan, Washington, and Unicoi Counties. Respite Voucher can be utilized for anyone living in the state of Tennessee.

Planned Respite teaches caregivers how to find respite providers and to train those providers on how to care for their children. Planned Respite also gives caregivers some immediately-needed respite. Respite Voucher does not provide respite resources directly but can offer reimbursement for respite services.

Caregivers are eligible for $600 of respite per year for the entire household through the Respite Voucher Program.

An individual/family has to reapply each year for respite voucher funding. Allocations each year are based on the availability of state funds, the needs of the individual/family, and eligibility.

Planned Respite services are designed to be flexible and responsive to individual or family needs. Services might include but are not limited to respite care, before/after care, daycare, nutrition/clothing/supplies, health-related costs, nursing, counseling, summer camp, and evaluation. Respite Voucher funding can be used for paying for sitters, day centers, hospital stays, physical therapy for the care recipient, mental health therapy for the care recipient, summer camps, tutoring, school extracurriculars, etc.

Crisis Respite Services provides short-term relief for a person experiencing a mental health emergency. The average length of stay is 48 hours or less. Crisis Respite Services can only be accessed by referral from Mobile Crisis Services or Crisis Walk-In Services. Call 988 and you will be routed to a trained crisis specialist in your area.