You are at the kitchen table with a stack of printed pages and a pen that keeps running out of ink. The agency wants a signature. Your father is at the sink, running water over a plate he already rinsed, and you want this right before he decides he does not need anyone at all.
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.
Start with what he will actually receive
Companion care is non-medical help: company, meals made together, a walk to the mailbox, a ride to the barber, a reminder that the car needs gas. Read the task list in the agreement against the list in your own head. If the paper says light housekeeping, ask what that covers. Does it include changing the bed and running the washer, or only the counters and the dishes? Write the answer in the margin of the page, because the margin is where disagreements start later.
Look closely at any line about reminders or errands. A companion can give a medication reminder and pick up a prescription as an errand if the agreement says so. Medicine itself stays with the family, his doctor and his pharmacist. If the paperwork is vague on this point, ask the agency to write down exactly which errands it covers so nobody has to guess on a Tuesday.
Check the hours and the substitution rule
Find the scheduled hours, the minimum shift length, and what happens when the usual person is sick. Ask whether the agency sends a replacement it has vetted, whether it calls you first, and how much notice you get. A substitution rule that says any available person is a very different promise from one that says the same person will come unless you are told otherwise. Neither is wrong, but you should know which one you are buying.
Read the cancel terms before anything else
Most of the trouble with these agreements is not in the first page. It is in the notice period, the cancellation fee, and what happens to shifts already booked. Find out how many days' notice you must give, whether a sudden move to a different arrangement triggers a charge, and whether any deposit comes back. Ask what counts as written notice. A phone call may not be enough, and you do not want to learn that in the middle of a bad week.
Decide who holds the paper
Keep a signed copy somewhere you can find it without a search party, and make sure your father knows where it is too. Name one contact on the agency side who answers the phone when there is a problem, and write that number next to the fridge. If you are sharing the arrangement with a sibling, both names should be on the contact sheet so one of you is not the only person the agency can reach.
What to ask tonight
Before you go to bed, write down three questions and take them to the agency in the morning: what exactly is in the errand line, what is the notice period in plain days, and who answers when the scheduled person does not show. If the answers are clear, you can sign with a steady hand. If they are not, the paper is telling you something, and you can wait another day before you decide.