From the file: this piece draws on no public record. It is a checklist for household fit. Editorial: a visit plan that leaves out the animals in the house tends to break down at the door, not on paper.

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.

Write down every animal before you compare agencies

List each animal by kind, size, and where it spends the day. Note whether it is shut in a room, kept in a crate, loose in the yard, or loose in the house. Write down the feeding times and who fills the bowl. An aide cannot plan a visit around an animal that nobody has described.

Decide the animal's role during the visit

Some families want the aide to refill water, feed at set times, and clean up after the animal. Other families keep all animal care with the family. Decide which before the first visit and write the answer in the care plan. If the agency's paper says nothing about animals, ask for the answer in writing.

Ask the agency these questions

  • Does the agency's paper say whether an aide may work in a home with animals?
  • May an aide decline a visit where an animal is loose?
  • Who tells the family when an animal is a problem for the aide?
  • Is there a written routine for an animal that gets out during a visit?

Plan the room

Pick a room or a crate for the animal during each visit. Check that the aide can reach the kitchen, the bathroom, and the rooms the plan covers without stepping around the animal. Keep the animal's routine at its usual times when you can, because a change can make an animal louder or more restless during a visit. Note any animal that barks at strangers so the aide is not surprised at the door.

Write it into the plan

The care plan should name each animal, its feeding time, its room during visits, and who cleans up after it. If the family changes the arrangement, the plan changes in writing before the next visit.

Editorial: the goal is not to rule out a home with animals. It is to make the animals part of the written plan, so the aide and the family read the same page.

When you are ready to check the agency itself, start with how to check a provider yourself, in five lookups.