This sheet covers one question to put to every agency before you sign: whether your family can hire the same aide directly later, and on what terms. Treat it as one line on the check sheet. The answer is usually not in a public file or an online listing. It sits in the agency's own paper, so the question has to be asked and the answer has to be written down.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Why this question comes first
Many families meet an aide through an agency and later want to continue the arrangement without the agency in the middle. Some agency contracts address that directly. Others say nothing, and the gap appears only when the family asks. Finding the answer before the first shift keeps the family from learning the rule at the moment it wants to change the arrangement.
What to ask and what to write down
Ask each agency in your comparison the same questions, in the same order, and record each answer on the check sheet. Mark every line with where it came from. Use 'agency said' for an answer given by phone or in person, 'in the contract' for language you read on paper, and 'our note' for anything this desk adds from outside the agency.
Ask whether the contract says anything about a family hiring one of its aides directly. Ask whether the answer depends on who introduced the aide, or on whether the aide was assigned by the agency or chosen by the family. Ask how long any such term lasts after services end. Ask whether the term covers only the aide's own employment, or also any fee or notice the family would owe the agency. Ask who at the agency answers these questions and whether that person will confirm the answer in writing before you sign.
What the contract should show
Read the section that covers ending the arrangement, the notice the family must give, and any clause about staff who move to a family or to another employer. Look for the exact words that describe the hiring term, not a summary. If the paper is silent, write 'silent' on the check sheet. Silence is an answer you have to confirm, not a yes.
What the public record can and cannot tell you
The public files that show whether an agency is registered and what services it is registered to provide will not show a hiring term. The lookups described on the desk's method page confirm who the agency is and what it is registered to do. They say nothing about the contract between the agency and your family. Keep the two kinds of answer apart on the sheet so that a clean public file is not mistaken for a clear contract.
Keep the answer on file
Ask for a copy of the page or section that holds the hiring term, and keep it with the care binder beside the agreement you sign. If the family later wants to hire the aide directly, the written term, not a memory of a phone call, is what the family will need to refer to.
When the answer is no, or unclear
If the agency says no, write that down exactly as stated. If the answer is vague, ask the agency to put it in writing before you sign, and do not rely on a verbal promise. A family that wants the terms explained in plain language can ask the agency to do that. A family that wants the paper reviewed for its legal effect should ask an attorney of its own choosing. This desk does not give legal advice.
For the rest of the agency check, see how to check a provider yourself.