The agreement is six pages. Page two says the caregiver will follow the care plan. Page four refers to the cancellation policy. The signature page says you received the service handbook. None of those documents is attached.
Do not try to settle this by asking whether the missing pages are standard. Your next move is to build one complete packet and make the provider identify every document that controls the work. The National Institute on Aging and Family Caregiver Alliance publish hiring questions that include getting information before signing, requesting a service packet and putting duties into a written care plan. Those public pages are listed on the source inventory.
1. Circle every reference to another document
Read the agreement once without deciding whether you like it. Circle phrases such as “according to the care plan,” “subject to agency policy,” “see attached schedule,” “as described in the handbook” and “acknowledged separately.”
Make a document list beside the contract:
Care plan: __________
Service or task schedule: __________
Cancellation policy: __________
Attendance or call-off policy: __________
Complaint procedure: __________
Household rules form: __________
Authorization form: __________
Other document named in the agreement: __________
Do not mark an item complete because someone described it on the phone. Mark it complete only when you have the document that the agreement names.
2. Ask which papers are part of the agreement
Call the person who sent the packet. Ask one question: “Please name every document that will govern the service after I sign.”
Write the answer exactly as given:
Documents named by provider: ____________________________________
Then ask: “Which of those documents require my signature or initials?”
Documents requiring acknowledgment: ______________________________
Listen for a finite list. “The contract, care plan and cancellation policy” is an answer you can check. “Everything is in our system” is not. “Those are standard policies” does not tell you which papers apply to this house.
3. Match the titles word for word
Put the agreement on the left and the other papers on the right. Match each referenced title to an actual document. If the contract says “Client Service Plan,” a paper called “Visit Notes” may not be the same thing. Ask the provider to confirm the title rather than making the match yourself.
Contract reference: ____________________
Document received: ____________________
Provider confirmed the match: Yes / No
Person who confirmed it: ____________________
Repeat this for every reference. The point is not to interpret the contract. The point is to know whether the paper in your hand is the paper the contract points to.
4. Check the care plan against the job
Family Caregiver Alliance describes a written care plan as the place where the paid caregiver’s duties are outlined. Its hiring guidance appears in the site’s public source list.
Read the task list aloud. For each task, mark one of three answers: included, excluded or unanswered.
Morning routine: Included / Excluded / Unanswered
Meal work: Included / Excluded / Unanswered
Household work: Included / Excluded / Unanswered
Transportation or errands: Included / Excluded / Unanswered
End-of-shift record: Included / Excluded / Unanswered
Other task discussed on the call: Included / Excluded / Unanswered
If a task appears only in your notes, ask where it belongs in the packet. Do not write it into the provider’s form yourself and assume that settles it. Send the question back and ask for a completed copy.
5. Find the rule that changes an ordinary week
Look through the attachments for the rules most likely to affect a scheduled shift: how a family requests a schedule change, how the provider reports a late arrival, what happens when the assigned caregiver cannot come, whom the family calls outside office hours and how a complaint is recorded.
Write the exact document and section for each answer:
Schedule change: ______________________________
Caregiver unavailable: _________________________
After-hours contact: ___________________________
Complaint route: ______________________________
If the provider answers by phone, ask where that answer appears in the packet. The useful answer is not “call us.” It is a name or role, a contact route and the document that confirms the process.
6. Check every signature and acknowledgment
Before signing, read the sentence immediately above every signature or initials line. It may say you received, reviewed or accepted another document.
Ask: “Can you send me the document named in this acknowledgment before I sign it?”
Write down:
Acknowledgment says I received: _________________________________
I actually received it: Yes / No
File name or paper title: ________________________________________
Leave the line unsigned while the referenced document is missing. That is a recordkeeping step, not a conclusion about what the paper means.
7. Ask for one clean final packet
After the missing pages arrive, ask the provider to send the full set together. Do not leave the final version scattered through a text thread, an online portal and several email attachments.
Your complete packet should let another family member answer four questions without calling the provider:
Who is providing the service? __________
What work is included? __________
What schedule was accepted? __________
Which papers govern changes, missed shifts and complaints? __________
Save the packet under one file name or place the paper copy in one folder. Write the provider contact and the date you received the complete set on the cover. If the contract later produces a dispute, the site’s local help page identifies public routes for consumer complaints and legal resources. It also notes the public instruction to keep originals and provide copies when submitting a consumer complaint.
Answers to listen for
A usable answer names the document, sends it without resistance and shows where it connects to the agreement. The person on the phone should be able to distinguish the contract from the care plan, schedule and operating policies.
Write the best answer you received: ____________________________________
Write the document that proves it: ____________________________________
Signs to walk away
Stop the signing process if the provider will not send a document that the contract says you received, cannot identify which policies govern the service, tells you to accept an acknowledgment before seeing the named paper, or gives conflicting titles for the same attachment.
Also stop if a blank attachment is supposed to be completed after you sign. Ask for the completed version first. If the provider cannot produce one complete packet, write that down as the answer:
Provider: ____________________
Missing document: ____________________
Person asked: ____________________
Response: ____________________
Your next move
Take the unsigned agreement and make the missing-document list. Send one message asking for every item at once. When the full packet arrives, repeat the title match and task check. The site’s five-step hiring path places this paperwork inside the larger sequence from the first calls through the first shifts.
Do not sign because the missing pages are probably routine. Sign only after the packet in front of you is the packet the agreement says you have.