California’s 21 regional centers are currently testing a revised Standardized In-Home Respite Tool with families. Service coordinators are testing the tool with families while continuing to use current regional center practices to assess how many respite hours are needed. During the testing period, families’ authorized respite hours will be based upon current practice, not the new tool.
After using the tool for more than a month, service coordinators report the tool is intuitive, straightforward, and easy to use.
To support the testing process, service coordinators received a script to help explain the tool and its purpose to families. They also received a guide of answers to likely questions. Early feedback suggests these have been helpful in practice. The resources were shared in English, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Tagalog, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Khmer, Armenian, Farsi, and Standard Arabic.
The materials will be available online once the tool is finalized and implemented later this year. The data collection period began on January 26 and will end on April 30, 2026.
Respite Tool Background
In 2023, Senate Bill 138 required the Department to address inequities in how respite services are provided to caregivers. The law states that this effort is intended to “provide more statewide uniformity and consistency and promote equity in the administrative practices and services of regional centers, consistent with the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act.”
Finalizing the tool, educating individuals and families, and training regional center service coordinators will take time, but these steps will create a consistent and equitable statewide process for determining the need for respite services.