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Questions to ask a potential provider:

 

  • How does your agency promote family involvement?
     

  • Who is involved in the interview process?
     

  • Find out who does the training for the direct service staff in how to best support your son/daughter. If you aren’t one of those people, you need to retrain them!
     

  • How long is the training? How many hours?
     

  • What is the longest shift people work?
     

  • What is your protocol when a scheduled staff calls in sick or is on vacation?

    • Describe plan

    • Expand on how their clients are prepared for this change 

    • Will they advise you? Will they offer to let you cover if you desire?

 

  • What is the most successful way they have seen to transition a person from mom’s/dad’s back to their own home after a visit?

    • How can they incorporate naturally occurring transitions? Suggestion: if Sunday nights are a hard return, maybe they should stay Sunday and go to their program, returning to their home following program that day; offer a stop to a favorite place on the way; a stop at the ATM for a $20; etc.

    • Use what works; Not just what is done because it’s the way they do it!

    •  

  • The more questions and agency about your son/daughter, the more likely they are to be a “learning” organization.
     

  • How often do they evaluate what is “Important To” and “How to best support” each individual client?
     

  • How curious are they about your son or daughter?
     

  • Be curious about their agency and their staff.
     

  • Remember that challenging questions cause us to think and learn.
     

  • Test your assumptions.
     

  • Ask them to summarize what they understand about your child.
     

  • Request a “Discovery Meeting” with your child’s team when you feel it necessary.
     

  • Offer to learn together, attend conferences and workshops. Offer to pay for the staff to attend learning opportunities.

 

 

 

 

Interviewing a Supported Living or Other Agency © 2015
Journey of Choice, Inc. Created by Trudy@journeyofchoice.com
Permission to copy and share granted.

 

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The Person Centered Thinking Training curriculum is the intellectual property of The Learning Community for Person Centered Planning. The Learning Community envisions a world where all people have positive control over the lives they have chosen for themselves. Our efforts focus on people who have lost or may lose positive control because of society’s response to the presence of a disability or other conditions. This site helps us foster a global learning community that shares knowledge for that purpose. All are welcome here to share and learn.

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