What is Home Sharing Short Breaks?

Home Sharing Short Breaks is a family and community-based respite service that empowers people with an intellectual disability to have greater control and choice in the supports they receive.

The Home Sharing Team recruit, train and assess families in the community to host a child or adult in their home for short break respite. All host families receive ongoing support and supervision from the Home Sharing team, including regular reviews and background vetting.

What is Home Sharing Shared Living?

As well providing short breaks respite in their home, the team also support families to host adults with an intellectual disability fulltime in their home, as a Home Sharing Shared Living family.  

Becoming a Shared Living family provides people with an opportunity to work from home and to be able to truly make a difference to someone’s life.

How to become a Home Sharing Family?

Please reach out to the Home Sharing team directly to talk about how you can become a Home Sharing family.

Tel: (091) 540 900 / 087 367 2940

Email: homesharing@abiltywest.ie

Alternatively, fill out the form below and a member of the team will be in touch!

Home sharing Services

Home Sharing provides respite support and residential services to people with intellectual disabilities.

In 2023, 45 host families collectively provided 4321 overnight respite breaks and 288 day sessions in their own homes.  Each placement aims to promote and empower the person supported, helping them to develop dignified relationships and to be included meaningfully in their community.

The family of the supported person can rest easy knowing that their loved one is being cared for in an inclusive family environment by a Home Sharing family who has been specifically matched for them. The Home Sharing families are fully trained, vetted, assessed and closely supported by the Home Sharing team.

Home Sharing was initially established in 1985 by Ability West as a pilot scheme to offer children a holiday away from home.  Its main aim was to give the child a holiday, give the family a break from providing continuous care, and to create a greater awareness of disability within the community.

In the 1990’s Home Sharing was developed further due to the demand from families. Subsequenly Ability West and the Brothers of Charity Ireland West Region developed the service as an interagency scheme which is now known as Home Share Galway.

Home Share Galway is one of the most successful and well established Home Sharing services in the country, and is now widely recognised as alternative Short Breaks Respite and as a full-time living option for people that use our services

Angharad Langford Home Sharing Coordinator & Georgina Dalton Home Sharing Social Worker

Nicola Ryan
Home Sharing Social Worker

Testimonials

Meet John & Janella !

Read John & Janella’s testimonal about hosting in their home HERE

In 2023, Maureen Doherty and Ellen Salmon both retired from home sharing.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to both Maureen Doherty and Ellen Salmon for their contribution and commitment to Home Sharing, and we wish them the very best in their retirement. Over the years, Maureen and Ellen respectively provided a home from home respite to a number of individuals, providing valuable support, care and friendships along the way.

We are also grateful to the many other host families in our communities who continue to offer their care, commitment and homes to people who avail of Ability West Services.

We are currently preparing for our recruitment drive in 2024 and the induction training in September 2024. We want to emphasize that we do not limit the search for host families to "traditional" family units. Instead, we welcome anyone who has a spare bedroom and has the willingness and time to offer support to a child or adult with an intellectual disability. Single individuals, cohabiting couples, married couples, and retired people are all encouraged to become Home Sharing families. While formal qualifications are not required, qualities such as warmth, patience, flexibility, and common sense are essential.