(405 ILCS 30/4.1) (from Ch. 91 1/2, par. 904.1)

Sec. 4.1. Respite Services.

(a) The Department of Human Services shall coordinate and financially assist the provision of community respite services for persons with a developmental disability. A respite service is the supplying of a substitute caregiver on a short-term basis to provide temporary relief to the usual caregiver maintaining a person with a developmental disability in his home. Respite services shall be classified as substitute care provided on any of the following bases:

(1) hourly or daily, which may include overnight, in the home of a person with a developmental disability;

(2) daily, which shall include overnight, in a community residential setting which is licensed, certified, approved or otherwise sanctioned by the Department or another State agency; or

(3) hourly, which shall not include overnight, in a community provider location.

(b) A person is eligible for respite services if he or she is a person with a developmental disability and lives in a natural or foster family home with natural or foster family members whose care and supervision are essential to his or her well-being.

(c) In allocating funds to community providers for respite services, the Department shall give preference to programs which serve special population groups and targeted geographic areas, as determined by the Department. In determining special population groups, the Department shall consider the adequacy of current service programs in meeting the unique needs of minority groups and persons with certain types of disabilities. In determining targeted geographic areas, the Department shall consider an area's current funding and service levels and demographic indicators of need, such as the total population, the population in poverty and the infant mortality rate.

The Department's provision of funds to community providers shall be subject to available appropriations.

(d) Community providers may fund respite services through monies provided by the Department, local units of government, fees and other revenue sources. Any fees charged by a community provider shall be in accordance with a sliding fee scale established by the community provider pursuant to guidelines developed by the Department. The Department's guidelines shall include, but are not limited to, the following criteria:

(1) fees may be charged only to responsible relatives, as defined in Section 1-124 of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code;

(2) no parent or guardian may be charged a fee for respite services provided to his or her child less than 18 years of age or 18 through 21 years of age who is receiving services under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142);

(3) no fee may exceed the provider's cost for the service;

(4) no fee shall be charged which constitutes a hardship for the respite service recipient's family or which impedes receiving needed respite services;

(5) fee scales shall incorporate consideration of the income and size of the respite service recipient's family and any unusual expenses of the family, including those relating to the medical or disabling condition of the recipient.

(e) If a community provider has insufficient funds to provide respite services to all eligible persons, it shall give preference to those eligible persons in greatest need as defined by the Department. In defining need, the Department may consider the capacity of the person's family to provide care and the person's need for special services or programs based on such factors as functional level, medical and physical impairments and maladaptive behavior.

(Source: P.A. 88-380; 89-507, eff. 7-1-97.)