From Offer to First Shift: The Aide Onboarding Path, Start to Finish

An agency should be able to show, step by step, how a new aide moves from an offer to a first shift in a client's home. Each step should leave a record. Where a step leaves no record, mark it on the sheet.

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.

Get the order in writing

Ask the agency to describe its onboarding in the order it happens. A clear answer names each stage and the paper produced at that stage. Write each stage on the check sheet in the order given, leaving room beside it for a file mark.

Application and identity

The agency should hold a signed application and a copy of the aide's identification in its own file. Ask who keeps that file and where it is kept. Ask whether you may see a summary of what the file contains, without receiving the aide's personal records.

Background screening

Ask which background screenings the agency runs, who runs them, and how the result is recorded. Ask for the written policy and the name of the office that answers questions about it. An answer that describes the screening without showing any record should be marked as office-described, not as file-confirmed.

Training before the first shift

Ask what training an aide completes before the first shift, who gives it, and whether it is written into the file. Ask what the agency's own training covers in the home, such as safe movement, household routines, and when to call the office. Health questions go to the family's doctor, so do not ask the agency to judge medical needs.

Assignment and the first shift

Ask who approves an aide for a particular client and who is told on the day of the first shift. Ask whether a supervisor calls or visits after that first shift, and what the family should do if the aide does not arrive.

Mark the file

Each stage should leave a form, a record, or a signed sheet. Mark each stage as file-confirmed, office-described, or not yet answered. Keep your own editorial notes in a separate column so they are never mistaken for the agency's paper. For the public side of the same question, see how to check a provider yourself.