We are in New Orleans,Metairie, LA.area. They are extremely hard to find. I also need recommendations of companies on our list that have expiernced staff. I have gone through 4 different companies. I am currently using Maxima Group Behavioral Svcs. and am satisfied with my attendent. This is her 3rd day with us.

Thank you for the suggestions on where to find help.

I also keep a Facebook page where we document and share everything with friends and family. So, one of our helpers is the daughter of a family friend who heard about us through Facebook. I have had a few temporary helpers through Facebook connections too!

I'm just sharing my own personal experience. I hope it helps - you do not want to go on for as long as I did not finding assistance! You are going to have to be persistent, don't give up!

We have found some truly amazing and wonderful people by posting an advertisement on craigslist. I have met with a few dummies - but not from craigslist amazingly! It took me about 10 months of recruting to build a team of 4 dependable ones - and one of those is a volunteer!! I'm not saying this is going to be easy but you have to become an employer, putting free advertisements out everywhere and then having a process to decide who to interview etc. Alot of people use the waiver to hire family members to help but most people using the waiver get it in part because there are no extended family to help out. Personally, I have had ZERO success in contacting churches. For the most part, most religious organizations are clueless. You could contact local churches who run a disability ministry - sometimes - they will have respite programs. I know of one locally but not in Richmond specifically. Let me see if I can find one and I'll link it for you.