Summit County Children's Services has a respite center that offers short term, out of home care for foster children.

Julie Hayden is the Director of Youth Services for Summit County. She says the center is staffed by two child development and day care specialists, and is absolutely free for foster parents...

Hayden: There's no charge for the foster parents. There's no limit on how often they can use the center. They may be having a tough time or a family emergency and may need to be able to use the center more often. They may have children who are currently in a childcare situation while the foster parent works and got kicked out of that center because their behavior was such. We can take them at the respite center.

Hayden agrees that many children in foster care require more attention than the typical babysitter or even daycare center can provide...

Hayden: Children who have been victims of abuse and neglect have several issues that interfere with their ability to act "normal." They may have been hurt, physically or sexually, in which case you often may see fear of strangers, anxiety around different caregivers, an inability to bond or interact emotionally with other folks. You might also find children who have been hurt or neglected who on the opposite end of the extreme, act out. Throw tantrums, hyperactivity, attention deficit, that interfere with the ability, interfere with maybe your basic teenage babysitter's ability to take care of them.

Last year, Summit County's respite center provided over ten thousand hours of care to more than three thousand kids. The county can also help coordinate overnight stays within their network of foster care parents.

Many adoption agencies provide similar respite care for parents with special need children. NOAS has teamed up with Kent State University to provide a respite program one Saturday a month during the school year, and two overnight stays. Carrie Dennis says it's put together by the students...

Dennis: Kent State students who volunteer on a monthly basis to plan and manage the Saturdays and then there's one overnight so there's eight Saturdays and then two overnights for each semester. The main goal of what they're doing is planning and building activities around team building.