Here is the information on our program and for getting fully enrolled. Please make sure you have read the following carefully.
• The TCC serves caregivers across the entire state of Tennessee, for all ages and backgrounds. We provide respite reimbursement for caregivers of loved ones with special needs.
• To qualify for our program, there must be a caregiver and a care recipient living in the home together. The caregiver is the person who is taking care of the care recipient full-time, 24/7.
• We do not provide respite resources directly – we can only offer reimbursement for respite services. We also cannot endorse or recommend any particular facility or individual.
• Things our funding can be used for: paying for sitters, adult day centers, hospital stays, physical therapy for the care recipient, mental health therapy for the care recipient, summer camps, tutoring, school extracurriculars, et cetera.
• Funding cannot go towards things like therapy, cleaners, vacations, food, etc for the caregiver – funding is only for situations where the care recipient is under someone else’s care.
• There are no barriers to enrollment such as income limits or insurance requirements.
• Caregivers are eligible for $600 of respite per year for the entire household. We are unable to offer $600 per care recipient.
• We operate under several different funding fiscal years, so re-application times vary. You will know at enrollment how long you have to use your funding.
• Caregivers can hire anyone to help with their loved one in order to relieve the caregiver – this is called the respite provider. This includes individuals and facilities.
• Caregivers pay for respite services up front and the TCC will reimburse those funds using a voucher system. The TCC is able to send reimbursement checks at the end of the following month that we receive your reimbursement voucher. That means vouchers received in (for example) January are reimbursed at the end of February. Vouchers must be at our office by the last day of the month. There is, on average, a 6-8 week waiting period.
• We are not able to mail out reimbursement checks before the end of the month.
• The TCC can pay facilities (camps, day cares, etc) directly – we just need an invoice from the facility.
• Individual respite providers cannot live in the same household as the caregiver and care recipient, must be over the age of 18, and must pass our background check in order for the caregiver to receive reimbursement. Background checks come at no cost to the caregiver or respite provider. Note: background checks are dependent on which of our grants you qualify for; you may not need one for your provider. We will let you know if that is the case.
• The respite provider does not have to have any particular skills (First Aid, CPR, etc).
• In order to be fully enrolled, caregivers must provide a proof of diagnosis dated within the last three years. This can be a medical form, a health care statement from a home health agency, a doctor’s office printout or a healthcare provider letter. The diagnosis itself can be more than three years old, but the document that shows the current diagnosis will need to be dated within the last three years and contains the name, date of birth, and diagnosis of the care recipient. This is uploaded to our online portal.
• We also need a signed Title VI form and, if needed, a background check form for your respite provider. We will send you those things once we have your submitted application.
