Emergency Respite Care
In addition to our planned overnight respite program, we also provide emergency respite care for individuals with special needs including autism and physical and intellectual disabilities.
This emergency respite is available ONLY between October 1 and May 31 each year. It is not available from June 1 to September 30.
Rising Treetops at Oakhurst’s emergency respite service, started in 2012, has provided dozens of people with disabilities in New York and New Jersey a temporary safe haven, often when there was no other place for them to go.
Please contact Charles Sutherland, Director of Services & Operations, about an emergency respite placement by calling 732-531-0215 or 804-467-9319 for more information.
Emergency respite is designed to provide care for people with special needs on days outside of our planned respite sessions, often with urgent same-day needs, to care for clients when a caregiver has medical issues or passes away, and during a transition period after leaving the care of family members while waiting for new permanent housing.
Most of our referrals, requests and funding for emergency respite care has come through New York’s Office of People with Developmental Disabilities and New Jersey’s Division of Developmental Disabilities. Private referrals and requests are also welcomed. We can typically provide transportation in one of our lift-equipped vans.
While at Rising Treetops at Oakhurst, clients receive full 24 hour personal care and supervision and have access to therapeutic recreational activities, including arts/crafts, music/drama, sports, swimming (seasonally), cooking, nature studies and, ipad-based learning arts and trips off campus.
Contact Rising Treetops Today About Emergency Respite Services
Please know all staff at Rising Treetops are fully COVID-vaccinated and as of January 31, 2022 all staff eligible for a COVID-vaccine booster shot has received them. Since June 2021 we have required all clients at Rising Treetops to also be fully COVID-vaccinated. In addition, as of February 12, 2022, all clients must also have received a COVID-vaccination booster shot, if booster shot-eligible, before arriving for a respite session.
If you are a care manager, family support staff or a family caregiver and would like to discuss a specific emergency placement that fits ALL of these criteria between late September and early June, please contact Rising Treetops at 732-531-0215 or email respite@risingtreetops.org.
