Respite Care in Texas: Free & Paid Options for Caregivers (2026)

Respite care in Texas gives family caregivers a temporary break, and several programs can help pay for it: Medicaid, VA benefits, and federal caregiver-support funding. The main funded routes are the STAR+PLUS waiver, VA caregiver benefits, and the National Family Caregiver Support Program through your Area Agency on Aging. If cost is the barrier, start with one call to your Area Agency on Aging at 1-800-252-9240.1

If you're caring for an aging parent or spouse, you already know what burnout feels like. A break, whether that's a few hours while someone steps in at home or a short facility stay while you recharge, isn't giving up. It's what makes the long haul possible.2

This guide covers every respite care option available to Texas families, from Medicaid-funded services to VA benefits, state programs, and community resources.

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• Types of Respite Care
• Does Medicaid Cover Respite Care?
• Does the VA Cover Respite Care?
• State and Community Programs
• What Respite Care Costs
• How to Find a Provider
• How to Start Respite Care
• Preparing for Respite
• Frequently Asked Questions

Important: Respite care availability varies by location and program. Contact your local Area Agency on Aging at 1-800-252-9240 or the ADRC at 1-855-937-2372 to find out what's available in your area.1

Types of Respite Care in Texas

Respite care comes in several forms, and the right one depends on your situation.2

In-Home Respite

A trained caregiver comes to your loved one's home for a few hours or a full day while you step away. This is the least disruptive option since your family member stays in familiar surroundings. In-home respite works well for regular breaks (say, every Wednesday afternoon) or when you need to handle errands, go to your own doctor, or just sleep.

Adult Day Care

Your loved one attends a structured program during the day, typically from morning to late afternoon. Adult day centers provide meals, activities, social interaction, and sometimes medical monitoring. This is a good fit for caregivers who work or need consistent daytime coverage. Texas Medicaid may also help pay for respite, so if your loved one has it, ask the plan whether a day program is covered.2

Facility-Based Respite

Your loved one stays temporarily in an assisted living facility or nursing home, usually for a few days to a few weeks. This option works for planned vacations, family emergencies, or when you need extended time away. Many facilities in Texas accept short-term respite stays, though availability can be limited, so book ahead when possible.

Emergency Respite

When something unexpected comes up (your own hospitalization, a family crisis), some programs offer short-notice respite. Your Area Agency on Aging is usually the fastest path to emergency respite services, though options depend on where you live.

Does Medicaid Cover Respite Care in Texas?

Yes. If your loved one is on Texas Medicaid through STAR+PLUS with Home and Community Based Services (HCBS), respite care is a covered benefit, generally available for up to 30 days (720 hours) per year unless the managed-care organization (MCO) approves more.3

How It Works

STAR+PLUS HCBS respite is available on an emergency or short-term basis, and it is arranged through your loved one's MCO service coordinator, who documents the respite needed on the individual service plan. It has to be authorized on that plan before it is delivered, and it can't be authorized after the fact. Two conditions decide whether your family can use it. Your loved one has to live in their own home or with relatives or other people, not in adult foster care or assisted living. And the respite provider can't be a primary caregiver, related or not, and can't live with your loved one.3

Consumer Directed Services

If your family is already using the Consumer Directed Services (CDS) option, the person receiving care (or their designated representative) is the employer and can hire backup employees as well as a main attendant, so someone else can cover while you take time off.9 Which relatives can be hired depends on the program. Under CDS, the spouse of the person receiving services generally can't be the paid attendant, and neither can the spouse of whoever acts as the CDS employer; Client Managed Personal Attendant Services (CMPAS) is the narrow exception for the recipient's spouse. That list governs who the member may employ under CDS, not who may be paid through the agency-managed route.10 If you are a spouse, our Texas caregiver pay guide walks through your options.

What to Ask Your MCO

Call your MCO's member services line and ask:

• "Is respite care included in my family member's service plan?"
• "How many hours of respite are available per month or per year?"
• "Can I use respite for overnight or multi-day facility stays?"
• "What agencies in the network provide respite services?"

If respite isn't in the care plan yet, ask the service coordinator to document the need and add it. Respite can't be authorized after the fact, so do this before the break you're planning.3

Does the VA Cover Respite Care for Veterans?

Yes, and the VA benefit is one of the most generous available. All enrolled veterans are eligible for VA respite care if they meet the clinical criteria for the service and it is available at their local VA, though that is not the whole test: services vary by location, and when the respite is delivered by a community agency, an adult day health care center, or a nursing home, the veteran also has to meet VA community care eligibility.4 Primary Family Caregivers enrolled in the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) receive at least 30 days of respite care per year as part of the benefit package, and that respite may run past 30 days when it is clinically appropriate and the Primary Family Caregiver requests it.5 Respite is not automatically free: a copay may be charged based on the veteran's VA service-connected disability status and financial information.11,4

What's Covered

• Home respite: A substitute caregiver comes to the veteran's home, or the veteran attends an adult day health care program.4
• Nursing home respite: The veteran stays temporarily in a VA Community Living Center or a community nursing home. Schedule it in advance.4

VA's 2026 copay page lists overnight respite and daily respite as each available up to 30 days a calendar year.4

How to Access It

Contact the veteran's VA social worker or case manager to complete VA Form 10-10EC and learn the copay amount, so you know the cost before you book.4 The VA Caregiver Support Line at 1-855-260-3274 (Monday through Friday) can also help.1 You can also reach out to the Texas Veterans Commission at 1-800-252-8387 for free help with VA benefits claims; its benefits advisors represent Texas veterans in filing VA disability claims and during the VA appeals process free of charge, though state law has TVC prioritize claims or point a veteran to another source of claims help rather than take every case.12

State and Community Respite Programs

Beyond Medicaid and VA benefits, several Texas programs help caregivers access respite.

Texas Lifespan Respite Care Program

Delivered to the public as Take Time Texas, this program helps family caregivers of a person of any age with a chronic condition or disability get a break. What it funds is respite itself, a break from caregiving, not a wage for the family caregiver. Any voucher or reimbursement amounts and rules are set locally by your Area Agency on Aging or ADRC and vary by area, so contact your local agency for current amounts and eligibility.7

National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP)

Texas's 28 Area Agencies on Aging deliver NFCSP services, which include respite care, caregiver education, support groups, counseling, and help finding local services.8

Who counts as an eligible caregiver is broader than most families assume. Since the 2020 reauthorization of the Older Americans Act, four groups qualify:8

• Adult family members or other informal caregivers caring for someone 60 or older
• Adult family members or other informal caregivers caring for someone of any age with Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder
• Older relatives who are not parents, age 55 or older, caring for a child under 18
• Older relatives, including parents, age 55 or older, caring for an adult aged 18 to 59 with a disability

So a 57-year-old grandmother raising a grandchild, and a mother in her sixties caring for a disabled son in his thirties, are both eligible for NFCSP-funded respite. If someone has told you otherwise, ask again. Texas AAA services are targeted to those with greatest economic and social need.8

To access NFCSP services, call your Area Agency on Aging at 1-800-252-9240.8,1

Alzheimer's Association

The Alzheimer's Association runs separate chapters across Texas, each covering its own service area. Six are confirmed on the Association's site: Houston and Southeast Texas, Dallas and Northeast Texas, North Central Texas, San Antonio and South Texas, the Capital of Texas chapter in Austin, and West Texas, which serves Amarillo, El Paso, Lubbock, the Permian Basin, and San Angelo. That may not be the full roster, so confirm your local chapter on alz.org. The Association's caregiver support groups, education programs, and care consultations are free.13 The Association's 24/7 Helpline (1-800-272-3900) is a national line rather than a chapter number: it connects you with a live person for information, local resources, crisis assistance, and emotional support, 365 days a year in more than 200 languages, and every conversation is confidential. Helpline staff can also sign you up for free caregiver support groups and education programs, and the Association offers free care consultations with a master's-level dementia expert.13

Faith-Based and Nonprofit Programs

Many churches, synagogues, and community organizations in Texas offer volunteer-based respite programs. These are harder to find through a single directory. Your best bets:

• Call your local Area Agency on Aging at 1-800-252-92401
• Search Take Time Texas7
• Dial 2-1-1 for community referrals1

What Does Respite Care Cost in Texas?

If you're paying out of pocket in 2026, here is what respite tends to run in Texas. These are median figures from the CareScout (formerly Genworth) 2025 Cost of Care Survey; actual rates vary by provider and region.2,6

The costs add up, but they're a fraction of what full-time care costs. In-home respite at about $30 an hour is far less than the roughly $5,666 a month a Texas assisted living facility runs, or the $185-a-day rate for a semi-private nursing home room.6 Compare a few hours of weekly respite to the cost of caregiver burnout, which often leads to more expensive care options down the road.

For families who can't afford private-pay respite, the programs above (Medicaid, VA, NFCSP, and Lifespan Respite help through your AAA or ADRC) are worth pursuing. And don't overlook family and friends. Sometimes the best respite comes from asking a sibling, neighbor, or church member to sit with your loved one for an afternoon.

How to Find Respite Care in Texas

Take Time Texas

Take Time Texas is a respite-provider directory operated by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) that lists providers by service type and location (in-home options such as personal care, and out-of-home options such as day centers or nursing facilities), with filters for veteran services and volunteer opportunities. HHSC offers the list for informational purposes only, so verify a provider's qualifications and licensure yourself. Providers ask to be listed, so a thin or empty result doesn't mean no one serves your area: call 1-855-937-2372 or your local Area Agency on Aging instead.14

Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC)

On the Aging and Disability Resource Center line, a trained professional guides you to available caregiver services and helps you work through long-term care funding sources and eligibility processes. ADRCs serve all 254 Texas counties. Call 1-855-937-2372 (855-YES-ADRC).1

ARCH National Respite Network

The ARCH National Respite Locator maintains a database of respite services nationwide, searchable by state and ZIP code.

How to Start Respite Care in Texas

Preparing for Respite Care

Taking a break works better when you prepare. Here's what helps:

Create a care sheet. Write down your loved one's daily routine, medications (names, doses, times), dietary needs, emergency contacts, and any behavioral patterns the substitute caregiver should know. Keep it to one or two pages.

Do a trial run. Before a multi-day break, try a shorter respite session first. This lets your loved one get used to a new caregiver and gives you a chance to see how it goes.

Address the guilt. Most family caregivers feel guilty about taking time for themselves. Here's what we see in practice: caregivers who take regular respite breaks provide better care in the long run. Burning out doesn't help your loved one. Taking a break does.

Plan something for yourself. Don't spend your respite time catching up on chores. Schedule something that recharges you, even if it's just an afternoon alone.

Learn More

Find personalized help finding Texas respite care 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.