Our Services

Respite Care Association of Wisconsin is the only statewide organization dedicated to promoting planned and crisis respite care across the lifespan. RCAW serves as the central point of contact for respite programs across the state. Our products and services include training, technical assistance, information and referral, lending library, and publications. For more information about our services, please feel free to contact us at 608-222-2033 or email us.

Lending Library
Our Resource Library offers books, manuals, journals, and audiovisual materials covering a wide range of topics including administration of respite programs, provider recruitment and training, how to start a respite program in your community, and much more.

Training
RCAW staff and consultants are available for on-site training on topics of interest to respite care programs. We periodically offer training events on topics of interest to respite care programs, and we can also provide information on relevant training available through other organizations.

Information, Referral, Technical Assistance, and Linkage
We can assist you on a variety of topics such as conducting needs assessments, how to start a respite program, models of respite care, program evaluation, issues of taxability and liability for respite care providers, and provider recruitment and training. We can also help families locate resources in their local community.

Publications
RCAW publishes a quarterly newsletter containing current and relevant information about respite care in Wisconsin. We also offer the Respite Care Provider Training Manual. The manual provides a curriculum designed to help develop basic competencies in persons providing respite care, and meets the requirements under Memo 88-30, Wisconsin's Standards for Supportive Home Care Providers and the standards applicable to Medicaid Waiver Funded Non-Institutional Respite Care DCS Memo 88-30I.

Please click here for more information about the Provider Training Manual.

Evaluation and Research
RCAW has participated in an Outcomes Based Evaluation project coordinated by the Chapel Hill Training Project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Data from this project can be a valuable tool for advocacy and proposal-writing. Contact us for a copy of the research results. Also, RCAW can help you implement Outcomes Based Evaluation in your program, and we can also organize a peer review process to use in program evaluation.

Advocacy
RCAW advocates for quality respite care across the lifespan, within the limits of lobbying laws and rules and in keeping with its status as a non-profit organization. Our staff tracks legislative and policy proposals relevant to respite care, and shares that information through our quarterly newsletter and through special alerts when appropriate.