Respite moves the care to a different setting, and every setting is rated differently.
We insure respite care agencies and providers, in the family’s home, in your own home or at a program site, including the overnight and out-of-home exposures most policies were never written for.
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 respite care businesses actually need.
General liability
Injury to the person in your care or to a visitor, and damage in the family’s home, at the limit your vendor or provider agreement names.
Without it — The agreement does not start, and an injury on a respite day has no defense behind it.
Professional liability
Claims that the supervision or care itself failed: a seizure not responded to, a dietary plan not followed, a person who wandered.
Without it — General liability excludes professional services, and supervision is the service respite sells.
Abuse and molestation
Defense of an allegation involving a child or a vulnerable adult, often during an overnight stay with one staff member present.
Without it — Excluded from standard general liability, and respite is one-to-one care by design.
Property and premises, for respite in your own home
When respite happens in the provider’s house, the house becomes a business premises and needs commercial coverage or a written endorsement for the use.
Without it — A homeowners policy generally excludes business activity, so an injury to a respite guest in your living room may have no coverage at all.
Hired and non-owned auto
Staff driving the person in their care to a park, a program or home again in their own cars.
Without it — The personal auto insurer learns the trip was paid work, and the agency is named with nothing responding.
Workers compensation
Respite workers hurt lifting, transferring or managing a behavioral incident.
Without it — Required with employees, and the injury rate in direct support is the reason the rate is what it is.
What the regulators actually wrote down.
Federal law defines respite care as planned or emergency care provided to a child or adult with a special need in order to provide temporary relief to the family caregiver.
42 U.S.C. 300ii, Lifespan Respite Care Act · checked 2026-10-03
California defines in-home respite as intermittent or regularly scheduled temporary nonmedical care and supervision in the client’s own home, for a regional center client who lives with a family member.
Cal. Welfare & Institutions Code 4690.2 · checked 2026-10-03
A California in-home respite agency vendored by a regional center must have a director with a bachelor’s degree and 18 months of human services management experience, or five years of experience including two in management, and its respite workers must hold CPR and first aid training.
17 CCR 56792 · checked 2026-10-03
Washington allows waiver respite in licensed settings such as adult family homes, group homes and children’s foster homes, and also in the individual’s own home, a relative’s home, camps, senior centers and adult day centers under a DDA contract.
WAC 388-845-1610, Washington DSHS · checked 2026-10-03
Washington sets no fixed number of respite hours; the developmental disabilities administration’s assessment determines how much respite each person receives.
WAC 388-845-1620, Washington DSHS · checked 2026-10-03
Texas defines respite in its CLASS waiver as temporary help with daily living for someone whose usual caregiver is unavailable, and bars the respite provider from living in the same residence as the individual.
26 TAC 259.5, Texas HHSC · checked 2026-10-03
Minnesota lists in-home and out-of-home respite care among the basic support services licensed under its home and community-based services standards.
Minn. Stat. 245D.03, subd. 1(b) · checked 2026-10-03
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
The person in your care is injured on a respite day
Covered by General and professional liability
Families often bring someone with needs the respite staff have never met. Intake notes and a written plan for each person are what decide whether it was foreseeable.
Common
A guest is hurt during respite in the provider’s own home
Covered by Commercial liability with the premises scheduled
Providers assume the homeowners policy covers a guest in the house. It covers guests, not paid care, and the business exclusion is the first thing an adjuster reads.
Common
A staff injury managing a behavioral episode
Covered by Workers compensation
Part-time and on-call respite workers are employees for workers compensation in most states, however the paperwork describes them.
Less common, severe
An abuse allegation after an overnight stay
Covered by Abuse and molestation
Overnight respite with one staff member is the fact pattern underwriters price hardest. Staffing and check-in records are the defense.
Kevin Kelsey
Founder | Principal Agent
Owned and ran a home health agency before insurance, so the licensing paperwork, the state and Medicaid requirements, caregivers driving their own cars to clients and an allegation from one-to-one care with nobody else in the room were learned running an agency rather than from a rate manual.
What the insurance company will ask about your respite care 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 respite care clients ask us.
Do the respite rules set an insurance limit?
Not in the rules we read. California, Washington, Texas and Minnesota set out where respite can happen, who qualifies to provide it and how hours are assessed, and leave insurance to the vendor or provider agreement. So the agreement decides your limits, and one regional center or waiver agency can ask for something different from the next. Send it to us and we will read it against the policy.
We provide respite in our own home. Does our homeowners policy cover it?
Usually not. Homeowners policies exclude business activity, and caring for someone for pay in your living room is business activity, however small. The fix is commercial liability that schedules your home as a premises, or an endorsement your carrier agrees to in writing. It is inexpensive next to the claim it prevents.
Does overnight respite change the policy?
It changes the underwriting. Overnight care with one staff member present is the setting abuse allegations come from, so expect questions on staffing, check-ins, background screening and how incidents are reported. Describe overnight stays on the application rather than leaving the underwriter to discover them, because undisclosed overnights are a coverage problem, not a pricing one.
Is respite the same as a regional center or waiver provider policy?
It is usually one service on the same policy. A provider enrolled for respite and other supports needs every service described, because respite, residential support and day services are rated differently. In California respite is vendored through regional centers; elsewhere through the state’s waiver.
What does a respite care insurance application ask for?
The applications for respite care businesses ask about 4 things above all: what type of organization are you (for-profit or not-for-profit); how many people do you serve (clients, students, or members); do people who receive health screenings or medical services sign liability waivers; do you currently have insurance with another company. Have your basic business information including your name, address, and licenses and your current insurance information, including policy dates and what you paid last year (called a loss run) ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.
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.