Respite Care in Arkansas: A 2026 Guide for Family Caregivers

If you are caring for an aging parent or spouse in Arkansas and running on empty, funded respite care can give you a real break without draining your savings.

Caregiving takes a quiet toll on your own health. Federal data show that nearly 1 in 5 family caregivers reports fair or poor health, and depressive symptoms are roughly twice as common among caregivers as in the general population. Respite is not stepping away from the person you love. It is often what makes it possible to keep caring for them at home.1

In Arkansas, funded respite for family caregivers comes from three main places: the ARChoices Medicaid waiver, grants through the National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for veterans. When none of those fits, a short facility stay you pay for privately is the fourth option. To reach your local agency today, call the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116.2

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• Can Arkansas Medicaid Pay a Family Member for Respite?
• Funded Respite Care Options in Arkansas
• What Respite Care Costs in Arkansas
• How to Start in Arkansas
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

Can Arkansas Medicaid Pay a Family Member for Respite?

For many Arkansas families, the most pressing question is not whether respite exists, but whether the person already giving the care can finally be paid for it. Arkansas does have a self-direction route: in some situations, ARChoices beneficiaries can hire and choose their own providers for personal care services through a separate program called IndependentChoices.3 Arkansas's program rules answer who that provider can be: IndependentChoices lets family members other than those legally responsible for the participant serve as paid personal assistants, so an adult child can qualify, but a spouse may not serve, and neither may a court-appointed legal guardian, a power of attorney or an income payee, even one who is an adult child.9 ARChoices likewise pays relatives but never a spouse, legal guardian of the person, or attorney-in-fact with authority to direct care, and that bar covers self-directed attendant care too.4

Here is how self-direction works. IndependentChoices runs under the federal Section 1915(j) option, which gives the participant or their representative choice and control over the budget and the worker, including hiring, scheduling, supervising and, if needed, dismissing the worker who provides personal assistance.9,10 Whether a family member can be that paid worker is a state option, not a general feature of self-direction: under the federal Section 1915(j) self-directed personal assistance option, a state may allow legally liable relatives, including a spouse, to be paid, and a state may also decline to, so the answer depends on Arkansas's own rules, which decline it for a spouse. One limit applies under both the 1915(j) and Community First Choice rules: the person serving as your loved one's appointed representative cannot also be the paid worker, so a relative who will be paid should not also hold the representative role.10

The ARChoices waiver itself lists respite care among its services, alongside attendant care and adult day services.11 ARChoices services may be provided by a relative who meets its provider licensure or certification and Medicaid enrollment requirements, but under no circumstances will Medicaid pay for a waiver service rendered by the participant's spouse, legal guardian of the person, or attorney-in-fact granted authority to direct care.4 To confirm how this applies to your family, contact the Arkansas Choices in Living Resource Center.

If you need a break urgently, call the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 to reach your local Area Agency on Aging and ask what respite it can arrange.2

Funded Respite Care Options in Arkansas

1. ARChoices Waiver Respite

If your loved one is on Arkansas Medicaid, ask about this waiver first. The ARChoices in Homecare Waiver is Arkansas's Medicaid home and community-based waiver for adults 65 and older and adults ages 21 to 64 with a physical disability. An applicant must meet all three requirements, not just the age or disability one: the age or disability test, the program's financial criteria, and the nursing home admission level of care criteria. Respite care is a named covered service within it.3 Arkansas's Department of Human Services adds that applicants must require an Intermediate Level of Care as determined by the Office of Long Term Care, and those who require Skilled Care are not eligible.11

How much you get: ARChoices services, including respite, are furnished under your loved one's written person-centered service plan, which the Medicaid agency must approve.3 Services follow the program's established benefit limits, and the plan's total cost cannot exceed your loved one's Individual Services Budget.4 Ask the Choices in Living Resource Center what your care plan can include and whether there is a current waitlist.

How to access: Contact the Arkansas Choices in Living Resource Center, and ask specifically about respite coverage and about having an adult child or other relative paid through IndependentChoices self-direction. A spouse cannot be the paid worker.

Best for: Medicaid-eligible Arkansas families who need respite, and who want a relative other than a spouse, such as an adult child, to be the paid worker.

2. NFCSP Grants Through Arkansas's Area Agencies on Aging

You do not have to be on Medicaid, or wait for a waiver slot, to get help here. The National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP), authorized under Title III-E of the Older Americans Act, pays for services delivered by Arkansas's regional Area Agencies on Aging: information and help getting services, counseling, support groups and caregiver training, respite care, and limited supplemental services.5 NFCSP respite can be provided in an adult day care setting.11

Who qualifies: Adult family members or other informal caregivers of someone 60 or older; adult caregivers of someone of any age with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia; relatives other than parents, age 55 and older, raising a child under 18 because the parents are unable or unwilling to; and relatives age 55 and older, including parents, caring for an adult age 18 to 59 with a disability. An older relative must live with, and be the primary caregiver for, the child or adult. None of these groups is defined by Medicaid enrollment.5

The respite condition: For a family caregiver, respite and supplemental services are available only when the person cared for is unable to perform at least two activities of daily living without substantial help, or, due to a cognitive or other mental impairment, needs substantial supervision because their behavior poses a serious health or safety hazard. Information, help getting services, counseling, support groups and training carry no such condition.5

How much you get: NFCSP respite is provided by your Area Agency on Aging or a provider it contracts with, so ask your local AAA how much respite it can currently offer.5

How to access: Use the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 to find and reach your local AAA.2

Best for: Arkansas family caregivers who are not on Medicaid, or who need help while a waiver decision is pending, when the person they care for meets the respite condition above.

3. VA Respite for Veterans

If you are caring for a veteran, start here. Veterans enrolled in VA health care are eligible for VA Respite Care if they meet the clinical criteria for it and it is available. It comes as home respite (a substitute caregiver at home, or an adult day health care program) or a short nursing home stay, which may be in a VA Community Living Center or a community nursing home. Respite from a community agency, adult day health center or nursing home also requires community care eligibility, and VA may charge a copay depending on the veteran's service-connected disability status and finances.12

PCAFC respite: An approved Primary Family Caregiver in the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) receives at least 30 days of respite care per year as part of the benefit, along with caregiver training and counseling. A spouse can serve as the caregiver.6

How to access: Call the VA Caregiver Support Line at 1-855-260-3274.13

Best for: Families of veterans enrolled in VA health care.

4. Short-Term Facility and Emergency Respite

Short-term facility respite places your loved one in an assisted living community or nursing facility for a short stay, which can help when you need to travel, recover from surgery, or simply rest. Not every facility offers short stays, so call facilities in your area to ask about availability and price.

In a caregiving crisis, call the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 as a first step to reach your local Area Agency on Aging and ask what help it can offer quickly.2

5. Medicare: Hospice and GUIDE Respite

Medicare does not pay for long-term custodial care, so it will not fund ongoing breaks for most families.7 For a patient in Medicare hospice, which requires the hospice doctor and the patient's regular doctor to certify a life expectancy of 6 months or less and the patient to accept comfort care instead of care to cure the illness, the hospice benefit covers short inpatient respite stays, up to 5 days at a time, when the hospice team determines the need and arranges the stay, and a 5% copayment may apply.8,7

The CMS GUIDE model funds respite (up to $2,625 for July 2026 through June 2027, paid to the participating provider, not to you) only for a patient with moderate or severe dementia who is aligned to a GUIDE provider. Alignment requires Medicare Parts A and B with Medicare as primary payer, no Medicare Advantage or other Medicare health plan such as PACE, no Medicare hospice and no long-term nursing home stay. For GUIDE respite, the patient must also live in a private residence, not a memory care unit or other residential care community such as assisted living, and must have a relative or unpaid caregiver as primary caregiver.7

What Respite Care Costs in Arkansas

When no program covers the break, you can still hire help and pay privately, and it helps to know the going rate before you call around. In the CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey, the Arkansas median for a non-medical in-home caregiver was $25 an hour, or about $57,200 a year at 44 hours a week of care, against a national median of $35 an hour. If you are pricing a short assisted living stay, the Arkansas median for assisted living is $4,637 a month in CareScout's data tables, though CareScout's own Arkansas press release gives a slightly lower $54,744 a year. These are industry-survey medians, not fixed rates, and they climb as care needs grow.14

Knowing these numbers is exactly why the funded options above matter so much. A few hours of paid respite each week adds up quickly, and the Medicaid, NFCSP, and VA paths exist so that the cost does not fall entirely on your family.

How to Start in Arkansas

Learn More

Find personalized help navigating respite care options in Arkansas at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.