Questions to Ask a Group Home
For a parent, guardian or sibling touring group homes for an adult or teenager with a developmental disability or a mental illness, before agreeing to a placement. The questions follow the order the decision usually takes: the first call, staffing, health and behavior support, daily life, safety and family contact, then funding and how a placement can end. Licensing, medication and funding rules differ from one state or country to the next, so the notes say what to check where you live.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
First call
Who are your homes set up for, and how much support do the people living there need?
Why ask it
A house built around adults with an intellectual disability who need help with most daily tasks runs very differently from one for people with a mental illness who mostly look after themselves. Describe your relative plainly, age and hard parts included, and ask whether anyone like them lives there now. 'We take everyone' has not answered the question.
Do you have an opening now, and in which house?
Why ask it
Many providers run several houses and the vacancy is in one of them, so the house you are shown may not be the house on offer. Ask how long the room has been empty and why the last person left. Where there is a waiting list, find out whether the provider or the funding agency decides who gets the next place.
What is this home licensed or certified as, and who inspects it?
Why ask it
'Group home' covers different legal categories from one state or country to the next, and the category decides the staffing rules, who may give medication and who comes to inspect. Get the exact name of the license and the agency behind it. With those two facts you can look up whether inspection reports are public where you live.
Which needs or behaviors have you had to turn down?
Why ask it
Every provider has limits: a person who needs two staff to move, nursing through the night, someone who leaves the house after dark, aggression toward housemates. A clear list is a good sign, because the yes you get afterward has been thought about. Tell them the detail you are most tempted to leave out and listen to the answer to that one.
How do you decide whether a new person is a good match for the people already living there?
Why ask it
Listen for a process that includes the current residents: a visit, a shared meal, an overnight stay, staff asking the housemates afterward what they thought. A room filled the week it empties was matched to the budget. Then ask about a match that went badly and what was done.
Could my relative get around this house on their own, including the stairs, the bathroom and the yard?
Why ask it
The vacancy may be an upstairs room in a house whose only accessible bathroom is on the ground floor. Say how your relative walks, climbs and washes today and how that may change with age, and find out whether the provider has another house that would suit them later. A ramp at the front door tells you nothing about the shower.
Can we come back on an evening or a weekend, and could my relative stay for a meal or a night before we decide?
Why ask it
A weekday morning tour often shows a tidy, empty house, with the residents out at work or a day program. Late afternoon, when everyone is home, tired and hungry, shows how staff manage the real thing. A trial meal or night also lets your relative tell you something, in words or in behavior, that no tour will.
Could we talk to a family whose relative has lived with you for a few years?
Why ask it
The thing to get from that family is what happened the time something went wrong, since everyone is pleasant while things go well. How many managers the house has had since their relative moved in is worth knowing too. If no family can be offered, the case manager may know which providers local families speak well of.
Staffing
How many staff are on each shift for how many residents, and what happens to that number when someone calls in sick?
Why ask it
Get the weekday, evening, overnight and weekend figures separately. Then try the thin moments: if one worker drives a resident to an appointment, how many are left in the house? Any required minimum comes from the license and from each resident's assessed needs, which is why the figure for this house matters more than the provider's average.
Are the overnight staff awake, and how many are there?
Why ask it
Some houses have someone awake all night and others have a worker who sleeps there and gets up if needed. Which is allowed usually follows from the residents' assessed needs and local rules. If your relative has seizures, wanders or wakes up frightened, say so and ask how their night would be covered.
How long has each worker in this house been with you, and how many people quit in the last twelve months?
Why ask it
Turnover in direct support work tends to be high, so do not expect a zero. What counts is whether the manager knows the figure for this house and can name the workers who have stayed. For someone who depends on routine or communicates without words, a familiar worker is most of the care.
How often do relief or agency workers cover shifts, and what are they handed about each resident before they start?
Why ask it
A stranger covering Saturday needs to know who chokes on bread and who must never be approached from behind. Have them show you what a relief worker actually gets. A one-page profile for each person is a strong answer, and 'they read the file' is a weak one, since nobody reads a file at seven in the morning.
What training does a new worker finish before being alone with residents?
Why ask it
You want subjects, not hours: medication, seizures, choking, behavior support, reporting abuse, and the particular people in this house. The legal minimum differs by place, and a provider proud of its training will tell you what it adds on top. The number of shifts a new hire works beside someone else first is the most practical part of the answer.
What background checks do you run, and has anyone ever started work before theirs came back?
Why ask it
Criminal records, an abuse registry, a driving record: which checks are required is a local matter, and relief and agency staff do not always go through the same ones. The second half of the question is the telling part. A short-staffed house is under pressure to put a new hire on the schedule early.
How many homes does the manager of this house look after, and when were they last here on a weekend?
Why ask it
A manager spread across four houses may see each one for a few hours a week. Unannounced evening and weekend visits are the provider's own version of your drop-in, and a manager who makes them knows what Saturday looks like. How long this manager has been in the job belongs in the same answer, because that person shapes daily life far more than the name on the van.
Do you have a nurse or other clinician on staff or on call, and what do they do for this house?
Why ask it
In many group homes no nurse is in the building, and the provider's nurse trains workers, reviews medication records and takes calls. That may be fine for your relative or not nearly enough. Ask who a support worker phones at two in the morning with a medical question and how quickly that person picks up.
Health and behavior
Who gives medication, how are they trained, and how is each dose recorded?
Why ask it
A nurse in one place, a support worker with a certificate in another: local rules decide who may hand out a pill. Have them show you a blank medication record and where the medicines are locked, then ask what happened after the most recent error. A house that says it has never had one is not counting.
How are psychiatric medications reviewed, and how would we be told before anything changes?
Why ask it
Expect the name of the prescriber, how often they see the resident, and how staff pass on what they notice between visits, such as sleepiness, restlessness or weight change. Who has to consent to a change turns on guardianship and local law, and the provider should be able to say how that works for your relative. It is fair to ask when a resident's medication was last reduced and not only added to.
Who takes residents to medical, dental and psychiatric appointments, and how does what was said get back to us?
Why ask it
The worker in the room is the one answering the doctor's questions, so it should be someone who knows your relative and not whoever is free to drive. A written summary to the house and to the guardian after each visit is the standard to hope for. If you want to keep attending appointments yourself, say so now and see how the scheduling would work.
If my relative had a seizure, choked or refused a medication, what would staff do, step by step?
Why ask it
Choose whichever applies to your family and have them go through it in order. A worker who knows will describe a written protocol with the person's name on it, who gets called and what is recorded afterward. Where that protocol is kept, and whether a relief worker would see it before a shift starts, tells you if it would still work on a Saturday.
Who helps with showering, dressing and using the toilet, and can my relative choose a man or a woman for that?
Why ask it
Say exactly how much help your relative needs and how they react to being hurried or touched by someone new. A careful house can tell you who does personal care on each shift and what it does on a day when the only worker on duty is not the one your relative would choose. Listen for bathroom doors kept closed and for a resident's 'no' being taken seriously.
How do staff communicate with a resident who uses few words, signs, pictures or a device?
Why ask it
Training on each person's own system is the first thing to hear, then what happens when the device is flat or left in the van. While you walk around, notice whether staff talk to residents or about them. If your relative speaks mostly through behavior, offer to write down what each sign means and see whether the offer is welcomed.
How do you support someone who hits, hurts themselves, runs off or breaks things when they are upset?
Why ask it
Describe your relative's worst day honestly and watch the reaction. A thoughtful provider asks what tends to come before it and what helps, and talks about changing the routine and the surroundings first. Be wary of an answer that goes straight to consequences, lost privileges or a call to the police.
Who writes a behavior support plan, and how does every shift learn it?
Why ask it
You should hear a named professional (the title depends on the system where you live), a part for the family, and records that somebody looks at. A plan that lives in a binder is not in use. Test it on the tour: ask a support worker what they do when a resident starts to get upset, and compare it with what the manager told you.
Do you ever use physical holds, locked doors or calming medication, and who has to approve it?
Why ask it
Rules on restraint and other restrictions vary a great deal from place to place, so pin down what is permitted there, who signs off and how each use is recorded and reviewed. Then get a figure: how many times a hold was used in this house in the past year. A number with an account of what changed afterward is more believable than a flat 'we never do that' from a home for people whose behavior can be dangerous.
What do you do in a mental health crisis, and at what point would you call the police or send someone to the hospital?
Why ask it
The answer should have several steps before the emergency call: what calms this person, an on-call clinician, a mobile crisis team where one exists. Ask how many times in the past year a resident went to an emergency room over behavior, and whether each one came back to the house afterward. The second figure is the one to remember when you reach the questions about leaving.
Daily life
How many people live in the house, and what can you tell us about the ones my relative would share it with?
Why ask it
Privacy rules may limit what a provider can share, but ages, interests, how noisy the house is and how long each person has lived there are usually fair to ask. Housemates are the part of a placement nobody can fix later. Visit when everyone is home and notice whether anyone seems afraid of anyone else.
Would my relative have a bedroom of their own, with a door they can lock?
Why ask it
A private room and a lock the resident controls are rights under some funding programs and not under others, and the case manager can tell you which kind yours is. See the actual room, not a similar one, and check where it sits in relation to the loudest housemate and the bathroom. Who else holds a key, and when staff may come in, should have a short, clear answer.
Can my relative bring their own furniture and decorate the room, and what happens when something of theirs goes missing?
Why ask it
A room with someone's own bed, posters and game console is easier to settle into than a furnished one. Things can disappear in a shared house, borrowed by a housemate or lost in the laundry, so find out whether an inventory is made on move-in day and who replaces what is lost. Keep your own list and photographs of anything valuable.
Can you walk us through yesterday for one resident, from waking up to bedtime?
Why ask it
A real day beats a description of the schedule. You are listening for somewhere to go, such as a job, a day program, school or volunteering, and for who chose the time to get up and the time to go to bed. If the honest account includes hours in front of the television, a manager who admits it and says what they are doing about it has told you something useful.
Where do residents work or spend their weekdays, and what happens if my relative has no day program yet?
Why ask it
Day services are often run by a different provider, with their own waiting list and their own funding. Check whether the house is staffed during the day for someone who stays home, because not every house is. If your relative is still in school or leaves it this year, settle who handles the school run and the gap afterward before a move date is set.
What did residents do last weekend, who went, and how do people get to things they chose themselves?
Why ask it
With one van and two workers, outings tend to be everybody or nobody, and individual choices are the first thing lost. A good answer includes time with one worker and places that are not only for disabled people: a gym, a library, a relative's house. Count the vehicles, find out who may drive them, and see whether a ride to family an hour away is something staff do.
Who plans the menu and cooks, and how much do residents do themselves?
Why ask it
Have a look at this week's menu and, if they will let you, inside the refrigerator. Cooking alongside staff builds a skill, and a plate set in front of five people does not, so find out which this house does. Mention diets, textures, allergies and strong dislikes now, and ask how the worker at the stove would know them.
Which skills would you work on with my relative, and how is progress written down?
Why ask it
Many funding systems require an individual plan with goals, under one name or another, so learn what it is called there, who comes to the meeting and how often it is reviewed. A goal that a current resident reached in the past year is the proof to ask for. Doing everything for a person is kind in the short run and can undo skills your relative already has.
What are the house rules on phones, the internet, bedtime, visitors and dating?
Why ask it
For an adult, the answer to hope for is few limits, each tied to that person's own plan and not a blanket rule that makes a shift easier. Find out who made each rule and how a resident can object to one. A home for teenagers will reasonably be stricter, and in either case the rules should exist in writing.
How is a resident's own money handled, and can we see the records?
Why ask it
Find out who holds the cash, how much can be spent without a second signature, whether receipts are kept and who audits them. Benefits and personal allowances come with their own program rules, which the case manager can explain. A sharp follow-up is who pays for the staff member's meal or ticket on an outing.
Would staff take my relative to our place of worship and keep our family's food and holiday customs?
Why ask it
The will is usually there. What decides it is whether someone who can drive is on shift that morning, so ask how it would be put on the schedule and not whether they are open to it. If your family speaks another language at home, ask whether anyone on staff does too.
How would you plan the move itself, and how do you help someone settle in during the first month?
Why ask it
A gradual start, with visits, then a meal, then a night, suits many people better than one moving day, though the funding does not always allow it. Offer what you know: the morning routine, what calms, what starts a bad day. The date of the first review, and who decides at it whether the placement is working, should be fixed before moving day.
Safety and family
What counts as an incident here, who writes it up, and how soon would we hear?
Why ask it
Ask for the list: falls, injuries nobody can explain, medication errors, one resident hitting another, someone leaving unsupervised. Which of these must be reported to the state or the funding agency is defined locally. Agree on timing for your own call (the same day for any injury is reasonable to ask for) and find out whether you may read the written report.
If my relative or one of us reported rough treatment or neglect, who would look into it, and what happens to the worker in the meantime?
Why ask it
A solid answer has the worker kept away from residents during the inquiry, an outside body told where that is required, and residents taught in a way they understand that they can tell someone. Find out which outside body that is where you live and write the number down. If the question itself makes the manager defensive, note it.
If a housemate hit my relative, or my relative hit a housemate, what would change afterward?
Why ask it
In a house of four or five there is no other wing to move to, so the plan has to be about staffing, routines and space. Ask for a real case with the names left out. An answer that covers both directions, your relative as the one hurt and as the one who did it, comes from someone who has dealt with it.
Has this home been cited or had a complaint upheld in the past few years, and what did you fix afterward?
Why ask it
Check what you are told against whatever is public where you live, since some licensing agencies post their findings and some do not. A provider who names a citation and the fix before you find it yourself is one you can work with. 'Never', from an organization with many houses, deserves a look at the record.
What do staff do in a fire, in a severe storm, or when a resident cannot be found?
Why ask it
Start with the last fire drill: when it was, and how it went at night with one worker on duty. For someone who would not get out of bed for an alarm, or who walks off, there should be something written down for them by name. Door alarms and locks limit a resident's freedom as well as protecting them, so find out who approved any that are in use.
When can family visit, and do we have to call ahead?
Why ask it
A phone call first is a courtesy to the people who live there, and that is different from needing permission. Ask whether you could spend time alone with your relative in their room, and whether visits have ever been limited for a resident and why. If every visit needs an appointment, you will never see an ordinary Tuesday.
Can my relative call or video chat with us whenever they like, in private?
Why ask it
A resident who can reach family without going through staff has a way to say that something is wrong. Find out where the call would happen, whose phone or tablet it would be, and who helps someone who cannot dial for themselves. Be uneasy if calls are only ever made from the office with a worker sitting alongside.
Who would be our regular contact, and how often would we hear from the house when nothing is wrong?
Why ask it
One named person with a backup is the answer, plus a rhythm you agree on: a weekly text, a monthly call, daily notes in an app. Ask how they work with a parent who phones every day. The tone of that reply shows how you would be treated in your first anxious month.
Can my relative come home for weekends and holidays, and does time away affect the funding or their place?
Why ask it
Some funding programs limit the days a resident can be away, and some stop paying the provider during an absence. Put this one to the provider and to the case manager separately. Ask as well how medication is packed, counted and signed over for a home visit.
What part do families and guardians have in planning meetings, and what happens when my relative and I want different things?
Why ask it
A guardian's authority and an adult's own right to choose are set by law and by the terms of any court order, so what you can learn from the provider is how it handles a disagreement, not what the rule is. The best answers start with what the resident wants and include a real example. If you are a sibling with no legal role, ask what they are allowed to share with you.
Funding and leaving
Which funding do you accept, and what exactly does it pay for in this house?
Why ask it
In the United States that is often a Medicaid waiver, and elsewhere a disability or social care budget, and the names and rules differ everywhere. Get the split in writing: what the program pays for, what the resident pays for, and what nobody pays for. Take that sheet to the case manager or support coordinator and check it.
What does a resident pay each month for room and board, and how much of their own income is left?
Why ask it
Residents commonly pay rent and food out of their benefits, and the amount they keep for personal spending is set differently from one program to the next. Ask for this house's figure, what it covers (internet, toiletries, the cable bill) and who decides an increase.
What do families usually end up paying for themselves, such as furniture, clothes, outings or medical items?
Why ask it
Ask for real examples from other families over the past year, such as a bed, a winter coat, a camp fee or a dental bill that insurance refused. You will learn the likely amounts, and also whether the house asks before it spends.
If my relative's needs grow, can the staffing change, and who approves and pays for it?
Why ask it
More support usually means a new assessment and a decision from the funder, and that takes time. Ask what the house does during the wait, and for an example of a resident whose needs increased and who stayed. If the honest answer is that people get moved, it is better to hear it now.
For what reasons have residents been asked to leave, and how many in the past three years?
Why ask it
Reasons you may hear are behavior the house could not manage safely, medical needs beyond what it is licensed for, and funding that ended. Get the number and, without names, what happened each time. A provider that has discharged nobody may be very committed or very choosy about who moves in, and one that lets people go after every hospital stay has shown you how a placement there ends.
If a placement had to end, how much warning would we have, could we appeal, and where would my relative live until a new home was found?
Why ask it
Notice periods and appeal rights come from the license, the funding program and the residency agreement, so read the clause itself and have the case manager explain which protections apply locally. The practical point is whether the provider keeps supporting the person until another place is found. Ask whether anyone has ever been sent home to family, or left in a hospital, without one.
If my relative is in the hospital or away for a stretch, is the room held, and for how long?
Why ask it
A psychiatric admission or a long medical stay is a moment when a place can be lost, partly because a provider may not be paid for empty days. Get the policy in writing. Find out too who decides that a resident is ready to return, and what they would need to see.
May we have a copy of the residency agreement and the residents' rights statement to read at home before we decide?
Why ask it
Read for fees, notice, whether the provider can move a resident between its houses, and who signs: the resident, the guardian or both. Anything promised on the tour that is missing from the paperwork should be added or confirmed by email. If something important is unclear, a disability advocacy organization or a lawyer where you live can read it with you.
How to tour and compare group homes
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you call a provider
Start with the person who controls the funding
In many systems a case manager, support coordinator or social worker knows which providers have openings and which your relative's funding will pay for. Ask that person for the list first, and ask how a placement is approved where you live. A tour of a home the funding cannot cover wastes a hopeful afternoon.
Write one honest page about your relative
Put down what a good day looks like, what a bad day looks like, the medications, what calms, what must never happen, and how they communicate. Send it before the tour. A provider who reads it and comes back with questions is already more promising than one who replies only with a date.
Ask your relative what matters to them
Their own room, a housemate their age, being near a job or a sibling, a dog in the house: whatever your relative can tell you, by words or by reaction, goes at the top of the list. For an adult, it is their home that is being chosen. Bring them on the second visit at the latest.
Settle the facts by phone
Most of First call and Funding and leaving can be answered before anyone gets in a car, including whether the house with the vacancy has stairs your relative cannot manage. Keep the visit for what has to be seen: the staff with the residents, the room, the kitchen at five o'clock.
In the house
Watch the staff, not the furniture
A new sofa says nothing about care. Notice whether workers speak to residents by name and wait for an answer, whether they knock before opening a bedroom door, and whether anyone is sitting with a resident or all the staff are in the office.
Ask for the last time, not the policy
'What happened the last time someone refused their evening medication' gets a truer reply than 'what is your medication policy'. Policies are written by the head office. The last time happened in this kitchen, and the person telling you was probably there.
Talk to a support worker as well as the manager
The manager sells the house and the support workers run it. Ask one how long they have worked there, what a hard shift looks like and what they would change. Their ease or unease in answering in front of the manager is worth noticing too.
Let your relative react
Someone who cannot explain a preference can still walk straight to the garden, cover their ears in the living room or refuse to leave the car. Write down what you saw before you talk yourself out of it. Then go back at a different time of day and see whether it repeats.
Comparing two or three homes
Line up the same numbers
For each house write down staff per shift, whether the night worker is awake, how many staff left last year, how long the manager has been there and how many residents were asked to leave. Gaps in one column are their own answer: a provider that could not give you a figure did not have it or did not want to say it.
Compare the housemates, not only the house
A plainer house with three calm people your relative's age may be the better home than a newer one with a housemate who shouts at night. Picture a wet Sunday afternoon in each living room and ask where your relative would be sitting.
Weigh the distance honestly
A home twenty minutes away that you visit weekly and unannounced is supervised by you in a way a better-looking home two hours away never will be. Count the drive for siblings and grandparents too, and for whoever will take over when you no longer can.
Check what you were told
Ask the case manager what they hear about each provider, look up any inspection findings that are public where you live, and ring the family reference. Where a provider's account and the record disagree, go back and ask about the difference before you cross anyone off.
Reasons to keep looking
Visits by appointment only
Asking you to phone ahead is reasonable in a home other people live in. Refusing evenings, weekends or a second look is not. What families cannot see tends to be what the provider would prefer they did not.
No answer on incidents or discharges
A home with real residents has incident reports, and a provider of any age has had placements end. 'We have never had a problem' means nobody is counting or nobody is telling you. Either way you would be the last to know when something happened to your relative.
Residents who seem afraid or shut away
Everyone in a bedroom with the door closed at four in the afternoon, a resident who flinches when a worker comes close, staff who answer for people who can speak: one of these on one visit may mean little. Seen twice, treat it as the truth about the house.
Pressure to take the bed this week
Openings are scarce in many places and a real one can go quickly, so some urgency is honest. A provider that will not allow a second visit, a trial stay or time to read the agreement is filling a room. If the placement fails in three months, the move back costs your relative far more than a few weeks' wait.