A visit log kept in the home is the family's own record. It does not depend on the agency to be useful, because it shows what actually came through the door. Start one sheet on the refrigerator or the kitchen counter and write one line for each visit: the day, the time the aide arrived, the time the aide left, the tasks finished, and the aide's name.
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.
Once a week, compare that sheet with the visit summary the agency sends or posts. If the agency does not send a summary, ask for one in writing. Mark each visit that appears on one paper and not on the other. A single gap is usually a schedule change that nobody passed along. Several gaps in one week is a pattern worth a phone call the same day.
Before the first visit, ask the agency four things and write each answer beside its question: how a missed visit is reported to the family, who makes that call, how long the agency takes to name a replacement aide, and whether the family hears about a schedule change before the aide is due or after the visit has already been skipped.
What comes from a file here: nothing. The sheet and the summary are the family's own paper, and the agency's answers are only what the agency says. What is editorial: the idea that several gaps in one week call for a phone call is a desk suggestion for when to act, not a standard any agency has agreed to meet.