Your clients are vulnerable by definition. The policy has to answer for what happens to them in your care, in your van and in your staff's hands.
A human services agency serves people who cannot fully look after themselves: adults with developmental disabilities, children in foster placement, families in crisis, people in recovery. The insurance follows that responsibility. Professional liability covers the care decisions and the case management, abuse and molestation covers the allegation every agency dreads, and the auto policy covers a client in a staff member's passenger seat. The market is a group of specialty carriers who ask detailed questions about supervision, restraint, training and funding, and who price the agency on its answers. We place the package for day programs, residential providers, family services, behavioral health and community agencies, nonprofit and for-profit alike.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What human services businesses actually need.
Professional liability
Claims that the care, supervision or case management was negligent: a client who wandered, a placement that went wrong, a medication given wrong.
Without it — General liability excludes professional services, and everything a human services agency does is a professional service.
Abuse and molestation
Defense and damages for an allegation of physical or sexual abuse by staff, volunteers or another client.
Without it — Excluded on standard forms and required by nearly every funder and licensing body; the limit and whether it is shared with general liability matter.
General liability
Injury on the premises and damage to others' property, for clients, families and visitors.
Without it — A fall in a day program or a fire started in a client room is a general liability claim before anything else.
Hired and non-owned auto
Staff and volunteers driving clients in personal or agency vehicles.
Without it — Transportation is the largest severity exposure in the class; a van of clients in a crash is a claim that outruns every other line.
Directors and officers
Claims against the board and leadership for governance, employment and funding decisions.
Without it — A wrongful termination suit or a funder dispute lands on the board personally without it.
Workers compensation
Injuries to staff, above all from client aggression and lifting.
Without it — Required from the first employee; direct-care work has an injury rate close to construction.
The claims we actually see.
Ordered by how often we see them, not by how dramatic they are. Each one names the coverage that answers it — and the policy people wrongly assume already does.
Most common
A client injured through a lapse in supervision
Covered by Professional liability
Staffing ratios, check-in procedures and incident review are the controls the application asks about, and the ones a plaintiff's lawyer asks about first.
Less common, severe
An abuse allegation against a staff member
Covered by Abuse and molestation
The limit is often a sublimit shared with general liability. Background checks, two-adult rules and training are what earn a separate limit.
Less common, severe
A vehicle crash with clients aboard
Covered by Auto, and hired and non-owned auto
Driving records at hire and every year, proof of personal auto insurance from staff who drive, and a distracted-driving policy are the three things underwriters want in writing.
Common
A staff member injured restraining an aggressive client
Covered by Workers compensation
De-escalation training and a written restraint policy lower both the injury count and the rate.
What the policy will not cover.
Pick a procedure to see what the exclusion actually means and whether it can be placed somewhere else.
The policy covers the services described on the application, delivered by the staff and volunteers described, at the sites described. Services added later need to be added to the policy.
Where a human services policy stops
Medical treatment
A nurse administering medication or a clinician providing therapy is a medical exposure that needs its own professional liability or a program that includes it.
Can it be placed? Yes, with the clinical staff scheduled.
Restraint outside the written policy
Physical, mechanical or chemical restraint not covered by a written policy and training is the claim carriers refuse to defend.
Can it be placed? Yes, once the policy and training are in place.
Overnight care not disclosed
Residential and overnight programs are priced differently from day programs, and an undisclosed one is a coverage dispute after a loss.
Can it be placed? Yes, as a disclosed operation.
Subletting space to other organizations
A tenant organization's clients and staff are not yours, and their claims are not covered by your policy.
Can it be placed? Through the tenant's own policy, with a certificate on file.
What the insurance company will ask about your human services business
We read the applications the markets use for businesses in this field and pulled out what they actually ask. Have these answers ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week, because nobody has to come back to you for the missing piece.
About the business
- What type of organization are you (for-profit or not-for-profit)?
- What year did you establish your organization?
- Do you have all the licenses and permits your state requires to operate?
- Has any of your licenses ever been lost, revoked, or suspended?
- What is your annual operating budget?
How you operate
- How many people do you serve (clients, students, or members)?
- What age groups do the people you serve fall into?
- Do you provide overnight housing or overnight supervision?
- Do you provide health screenings or other medical services to the people you serve?
- Do you operate or control any day care facilities?
Safety and controls
- Do people who receive health screenings or medical services sign liability waivers?
- Do you require all participants in sports activities to have accident and health insurance?
- Do you have written policies against abuse that define appropriate behavior, make clear you have zero tolerance, and say you will investigate and work with law enforcement?
- Do you run criminal background checks and check driving records on all employees and volunteers at hire and annually?
- Do you require employees and volunteers who drive to show proof of their personal auto insurance each year?
Your history
- Do you currently have insurance with another company?
- Has any of your insurance coverage ever been declined or cancelled because of losses or claims?
- Have there been any claims against you that say you were negligent or didn't follow licensing or safety rules?
- Are there any facts, circumstances, or situations right now that might lead to a claim?
Money and people
- How many employees and volunteers work for you (full-time and part-time)?
- Do any of your employees or volunteers use their personal cars for your business (like running errands or transporting people)?
- Do you spend more than $2,500 per year on renting or leasing vehicles?
- What is your annual revenue?
Have these ready
- Your basic business information including your name, address, and licenses
- Your current insurance information, including policy dates and what you paid last year (called a loss run)
- A list of all employees and volunteers by position, including whether you have degreed professionals
- Your written abuse prevention policies and employee screening procedures
- Information about any claims or incidents from the past several years
You answer what you can; a licensed agent fills the rest with you.
What our human services clients ask us.
How much does human services insurance cost?
The package is priced on operating budget, payroll, the number of clients and the services provided. A small day program might pay in the mid four figures a year for liability and abuse coverage together; a residential provider with vehicles and overnight care pays several times that. Transportation and residential care are the two things that move the price most.
What does a human services insurance application ask for?
The applications we work from ask what services you provide (day, overnight, foster care, substance abuse treatment, behavioral health), whether you are nonprofit, your licenses and accreditations and whether any were lost, how many staff and volunteers you have and who supervises them, how staff de-escalate aggressive clients and how often they train, whether you use restraints, who reviews incident reports, whether you transport clients and in whose vehicles, your budget and payroll, where your funding comes from, and any claims or coverage refusals.
Is abuse coverage included in general liability?
Not on a standard form, where it is excluded. Specialty human services programs add it, sometimes as a separate limit and sometimes as a sublimit shared with general liability. Funders and licensing bodies usually specify a minimum. Ask which kind you have, because the difference decides whether one claim can use up the whole policy.
Do independent caregivers we contract with need their own insurance?
Yes, and you should hold their certificates. A contractor delivering care under your program is your exposure when the client is harmed, and a certificate naming your agency as an additional insured is what puts their policy in front of yours.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.