Depending on where you live, an adult family home can also be called an adult foster home, private assisted living, board, adult care home, and personal care home.
While these family homes provide benefits similar to assisted living, the environment is usually smaller.
The staff-patient ratio is small, meaning more personalized care for your loved one.
Since the number of residents in adult family homes is usually smaller, forming close friendships reduces the loneliness and isolation you may get when living in larger settings.
Discussed below are six tips for choosing an adult family home.
1. Focus on the care your loved one needs
When choosing a care home for your loved ones, it’s essential to consider their needs.
Ideally, adult family homes have high care needs. They cater to seniors with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other chronic ailments, including Lou Gehrig’s disease or Parkinson’s disease.
Since care homes vary, assessing your loved one’s needs enables you to pick a home that best suits their needs and medical requirements.
Find the best adult family homes in Seattle WA (or within your locality) to ensure your loved one gets the best, specialized care.
2. Consider licensing and safety
Considering that there aren’t federal standards for adult-family homes, researching them may be complicated.
However, the available standards vary from state to state, while others don’t have licensing and regulation rules.
If your state licenses adult care homes, the local licensing offices can provide you with survey results on each adult family home.
Visit several adult family homes and request their recent survey reports before committing to a specific care home.
Look at the security and safety measures the adult foster home has put in place to ensure your peace of mind and your loved one’s safety.
3. Consider the services provided
While most adult family homes may offer similar services, others might have unique programs.
Adult care homes provide some services: personal care, memory care, intermittent nursing and hospice program support, housekeeping, planned activities, fall and mobility risk assistance, self-care, and adult day and respite care.
Knowing what they provide and what a typical day living in the care home looks like gives you a clear picture of how it will be with your loved one living there.
This also allows you to find the best care for your loved ones especially if they require specialized care and round-the-clock attention.
4. Location is key
Finding an adult family home close to your workplace or home can be very convenient because you can visit your loved one whenever you can without spending much.
Since your older loved one is already familiar with the region, transitioning to the family adult home will be easier.
It also gives your older loved ones the comfort that you can visit them frequently.
5. Ensure adequate staff
The staff-patient ratio determines the kind of care your loved one needs.
The higher the number of staff, the more personalized care your loved one will receive. Upon visiting potential adult family homes, consider meeting the team and interacting with them to determine how comfortable you’ll be and their personality.
This will reassure you that your loved one is in safe hands.
Endnote
When your older loved one starts requiring frequent help with the simplest daily tasks and can no longer live alone, a care home is an ideal senior living option. Use these tips to choose an adult family home.
Image by Sabine van Erp from Pixabay
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