By the time you have a list of names from calls and referrals, the work is removing names, not ranking them. Run this cut before you line up any rate, and write the result on the sheet below. A name that fails here does not earn a second look, no matter how good the rest of its pitch sounds.

Step 1: Ask every name the same three questions

  1. Who is the employer of the person who would walk into my house, and is that person on your payroll or on a third party's?
  2. If the regular caregiver is sick or cannot come, who is the named replacement, and how long until that person is in the house?
  3. When a shift goes wrong on a weekend night, who do I call, by name and number, and what happens in the next hour?

Ask them in this order, and write each answer word for word. Do not paraphrase on the sheet. Paraphrasing is how a vague answer starts to sound like a clear one.

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.

Step 2: Listen for the answer you can check

A usable answer names a role, a person, or a written procedure. Listen for a job title, a phone line that is staffed, or a sentence that says where the replacement rule appears in the paperwork. Those are things you can verify.

Walk away from any name that does one of these: gives a different answer when you ask the same question a second time, says some version of 'we will figure it out when it happens,' cannot say who employs the person who would work in your house, or refuses to put the replacement rule in writing. Any one of these is enough to cut the name.

Step 3: Cut the names that fail

Go through the list once. A provider stays on the shortlist only if all three answers are specific, stable, and written somewhere you can point to. If you are unsure, call back and ask the same question again. A changed answer counts as a failure.

Write the result for each name:

Provider: ______________________________

Employer named and specific? Yes / No

Replacement named with a start time? Yes / No

Weekend contact named by name and number? Yes / No

Same answer on second call? Yes / No

Keep on shortlist only if every line is Yes.

If your list is down to one or two names

A short list is not a finished decision. It means the cut did its job. Only now is it worth comparing rates, and when you do, compare them against the same written terms. If the provider will remind a family member about medication or pick up a prescription as an errand, ask for that line to be written out as an errand only. Giving or managing medicine stays with you, your doctor, and your pharmacist, and any provider who blurs that line should come off the list.

For the broader set of steps, see Start Here: Five Steps to Hiring. For the choice between an agency and a direct hire, which often decides which names belong on the list at all, see Hire a Caregiver in St. Louis: Agency or Direct.