Respite

The one-sentence answer

Respite is short-term care that gives the person's usual caregiver a break — and in the Self-Determination Program it comes in two forms with two different service codes: 310 for in-home respite and 311 for out-of-home respite at a facility.

What this means for you

It is for the caregiver as much as the participant, and that is the point of it. Respite exists because sustained caregiving without breaks does not work — not as a kindness, but as a recognition that an exhausted caregiver eventually stops being able to provide care at all.

Both codes sit in the Living Arrangement budget category — see budget category — which means respite competes for the same portion of the budget as other living-arrangement services.

Respite has lighter provider requirements than clinical services. DDS's rules require that all services be provided by an adult who is qualified for the work; some services require professional licensure — nursing, therapy — while respite is named as one with minimal requirements. In practice this widens who you can actually hire.

But a legally responsible person still cannot be paid for it. A parent of a minor cannot be paid to provide their own child's respite — which makes sense once you see it, since respite is defined as relief for the caregiver. Once a participant is an adult and the parent is no longer legally responsible, that changes; see the legally responsible person entry.

Do not assume respite hours carry over from traditional regional center services unchanged. Self-Determination replaces the services purchased for you with a budget you direct, so what you had before is a starting point for the conversation, not an entitlement that transfers automatically.

For the detail-oriented

310 — Respite (Individual and Agency), In-home. Delivered in the participant's home, either by an individual you employ or through an agency.

311 — Respite Facility, Out-of-Home. Delivered at a facility rather than at home.

Both fall in the Living Arrangement budget category (codes 310–321).

Is there a cap on respite hours?

We looked, and no DDS source we can find states one for Self-Determination.

Enclosure B, the document that settles most "can this be paid for" questions, does not address respite at all — it covers home and living expenses, vehicles, community integration, and services paid outside the spending plan. The November 2025 directive on initial individual budgets and spending plans does not set a respite limit either.

So what actually limits your respite is your budget and your plan, not a published ceiling. Respite has to serve a need or goal in your IPP, and it is paid from your individual budget like anything else in the Living Arrangement category. Run out of budget and you run out of respite, whatever any hour figure says.

One caution. Traditional regional center services have historically applied their own respite limits, and a number may be quoted to you from that context. If someone tells you there is a cap, ask which document it comes from — see when you are told two different things. We are not saying no limit exists anywhere; we are saying we could not find one published for SDP, and we would rather tell you that than invent a number.

The one respite rule Enclosure B does give

It appears in the prohibition on room and board, and it catches families out. Rent, groceries, meals and hotel stays cannot be bought directly and then billed to your FMS for reimbursement — and DDS gives "paying a respite worker cash" as its own example of what does not work.

So pay respite as respite, through the proper route. Handing someone cash and seeking it back afterwards is the specific thing the document rules out.

Still to come: how respite is priced when bought from an agency versus an individual you employ, and how SDP respite compares with respite under traditional regional centre services.