For families raising a child or adult with a developmental disability, respite hours are not a luxury line item. They are what makes the rest of the week possible.
California Just Paused Its Statewide Respite Tool: What It Means for Orange County Families
For three years, California told families that help was coming. Two families in different counties, with children who had nearly identical needs, could walk out of their planning meetings with wildly different respite authorizations. One got 8 hours a month. The other got 90 hours a quarter. Same state, same law, same diagnosis. A 2023 bill was supposed to end that.
On August 3, 2026, the Department of Developmental Services told the community it is pausing the project.
If you have a family member served by the Regional Center of Orange County, this is worth ten minutes of your attention, because the practical answer to “how do I get more respite hours?” just changed. Not because a new rule arrived, but because the new rule that was coming is not coming, at least not soon. The old rules are the rules. And most Orange County families have never actually read them.
What SB 138 Was Supposed to Fix
Senate Bill 138, signed in 2023, added a short but consequential provision to California’s Welfare and Institutions Code. Section 4435.1(c) directed the Department of Developmental Services to “establish standardized processes, including standardized templates, for assessing a consumer’s need for respite services” no later than June 30, 2025. Regional centers were required to implement those processes no later than January 1, 2026.
The goal was stated plainly in the law itself: more statewide uniformity and consistency, and equity in the administrative practices of regional centers, consistent with the Lanterman Act. In plain English, two families with similar needs should get similar respite hours regardless of which of the 21 regional centers happens to serve their zip code.
The disparity was real and well documented. In DDS’s own description of the problem, some regional centers started respite at 90 hours per quarter for all clients, while others started at 4 hours per month for all clients. That is not a rounding error. Over a year, it is the difference between roughly 360 hours of relief and 48.
The Three-Year Timeline, and Where It Stopped
This project did not fail quietly or quickly. It ran a full public process:
| Date | What Happened |
|---|---|
| 2023 | SB 138 signed, adding WIC 4435.1(c) and its respite-standardization mandate |
| April 10, 2025 | DDS hosts a public webinar on the broader Family Support Tool concept, which would have covered respite, day care, and personal assistance |
| June 30, 2025 | Statutory deadline for DDS to establish the standardized process. DDS narrows scope to a standalone respite tool and publishes a Questions and Answers document |
| July 29, 2025 | Draft one presented at a public webinar; a 30-day public comment period opens |
| August 28, 2025 | Comment period closes. DDS receives more than 850 written comments |
| December 23, 2025 | DDS publishes revisions: simplified language, less text, combined sections, adjusted response options |
| January 1, 2026 | Statutory deadline for regional centers to implement the standardized process. It passes without a finished tool |
| Jan 26 to Apr 30, 2026 | Draft two tested by service coordinators at all 21 regional centers with a few thousand families, alongside, not instead of, existing processes. No family’s hours changed |
| August 3, 2026 | DDS informs the community it is pausing further development and use of the tool |
The August 3 community letter, issued on behalf of DDS and posted by regional centers, is unusually direct about why. The updated tool “received positive feedback.” But the testing and analysis of the second draft “showed it could lead to unclear impacts on services across the regional center system.” Because of that, the letter says, “The Department is pausing further development and use of a respite assessment tool,” and “Regional centers will continue using their existing methods for authorizing respite hours.”
DDS also says a public webinar will be scheduled for late August. The Department still intends to walk through how draft one was revised after public comment, review the data collected during the second round of testing, and give examples of why it is pausing. As of this writing, no specific date has been published. If you want to hear the reasoning firsthand, watch RCOC’s events calendar and the DDS newsletter over the next two weeks.
A paused assessment tool does not pause the paperwork. The hours your family can get today are still governed by rules that have been in place for years.
Why a Pause Is Not the Same as Bad News
It would be easy to read this as a setback, and for families who have been waiting on a fairer formula, it is. But there is a reason many advocates reacted to the pause with something closer to relief.
A standardized tool cuts both ways. It raises the floor for families who have been under-authorized, and it can lower the ceiling for families who have been well served by a generous regional center. DDS said from the beginning that one of its goals was to “avoid big changes to the respite hours that individuals and families currently get,” and when asked directly whether hours could be reduced by the tool, the Department’s answer was that it would take care “to minimize the risk that the new tool negatively impacts families.” That is a careful sentence, and families noticed.
“Unclear impacts on services across the regional center system” is DDS’s own phrasing for the thing everyone feared: run the numbers, and you cannot confidently say who wins and who loses. Pausing rather than shipping that is a defensible call.
The practical consequence for Orange County is simple. Nothing about your authorization changes today. Your service coordinator will use the same process next month that they used last month.
What Actually Governs Respite Hours in Orange County
With the statewide tool shelved, RCOC’s own Purchase of Service Guidelines remain the operative document. They were adopted by RCOC’s Board of Directors, they are public, and they are far more specific than most families realize. RCOC defines four levels of in-home respite:
| Level | Hours per Month | Annual Maximum | What It Takes to Qualify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | 4 to 8 hours | Up to 96 hours | General criteria for RCOC purchase of respite services are met |
| Level 2 | 9 to 16 hours | Up to 192 hours | Level 1 is documented as not meeting the family’s needs, plus at least one qualifying circumstance |
| Level 3 | 17 to 24 hours | Up to 288 hours | Level 2 is documented as not meeting needs, plus at least one higher-intensity circumstance |
| Level 4 | Up to 32 hours | Negotiated, time-limited | Exception basis, with a written plan of action developed jointly with the family |
Beyond Level 4, RCOC’s guidelines say the agency may authorize more than 32 hours per month on an exception basis for extraordinary circumstances or crisis situations, giving hospitalization of a primary caregiver as the example. Those hours are time-limited and come with a plan of action.
Notice the structure. Moving up a level is not a matter of asking more insistently. It is a matter of documenting that the level below it is not working, and then matching at least one published qualifying circumstance.
The Qualifying Circumstances, in RCOC’s Own Terms
To move from Level 1 to Level 2, at least one of these must apply
- Documented evidence of significant disruption to the family caused by the care the person requires
- There is only one primary caregiver, with limited family or social support
- The person is medically fragile with frequent illnesses requiring treatment
- The person is exhibiting new challenging behaviors requiring additional respite, pending an intervention plan
- The primary caregiver’s ability to provide care and supervision has become limited due to aging, illness, or disability
To move from Level 2 to Level 3, at least one of these must apply
- Chronic medical and physical needs involving physical limits, such as cerebral palsy or being non-ambulatory, requiring total care
- A parent has a developmental disability and chronic emotional or health problems affecting their ability to cope with the care required
- The person is exhibiting severe challenging behaviors and is a danger to self or others
- Two or more RCOC consumers live in the family home and the caregiver provides care and supervision for both
- Medical needs such as regular pulmo-aide use, a G-tube, periodic suctioning, repositioning, or feeding that takes more than an hour per feeding period
- Medical care needs that interfere with the primary caregiver’s sleep
Read those lists again with your own household in mind. The single most common reason families stay at a lower level is not that they fail to qualify. It is that the qualifying circumstance was never written down anywhere in the record. “Medical care needs interfere with the sleep of primary caregiver” is a specific, checkable fact. If it is true in your home and it is not in your file, the planning team cannot act on it.
Three Things About RCOC Respite Most Families Miss
1. Respite hours do not roll over
RCOC’s guidelines are explicit: authorizations are normally written for the fiscal year, and unused respite hours cannot be carried over to the next fiscal year. California’s fiscal year runs July 1 through June 30. Hours you were authorized and never used are simply gone. Families who bank hours “for an emergency” and never book them are giving up the benefit they fought for. If you are sitting on a large unused balance, that is worth a call now, not in May.
2. The voucher system is the default, and an agency requires justification
RCOC expects families to use the parent voucher system, which lets you choose your own provider. RCOC may fund a private respite agency instead when there is written documentation in the chart that the family has been unable to use the voucher system due to unavailability of extended family, neighbors, or others; or when the person has behaviors requiring someone experienced with developmental disabilities; or when the person is non-ambulatory with extensive personal care needs and no voucher provider is available. If an agency is what your family actually needs, that documentation is the path.
3. Respite hours have more permitted uses than most families use them for
Under RCOC’s guidelines, respite hours may be used as day care, though the number authorized would not exceed regular respite. Respite hours may also be used to attend conferences, seminars, or support groups specific to the person’s developmental disability. RCOC’s stated norm is roughly 3 hours per support group session, or 8 hours for an all-day conference, plus travel time. Families routinely skip conferences because they have no coverage at home, without realizing coverage is contemplated in the guidelines.
In-home respite is not babysitting. RCOC’s own guidelines distinguish care that requires experience with developmental disabilities from care a regular sitter can provide.
If You Are Told No
Respite decisions are appealable, and the timelines changed in 2023 in ways that favor families who move quickly. Under the current process, you have 60 days after receiving a Notice of Action to appeal. If you want your services to stay in place while the appeal is pending, which is known as aid paid pending, you need to appeal within 30 days.
Appeal requests now go to DDS, not to the regional center. They can be submitted online, by mail, or by email to appealrequest@dds.ca.gov. From there, the regional center must hold an informal meeting within 10 days. The Office of Administrative Hearings must hold a mediation within 30 days and a hearing within 50 days, and must issue a decision within 10 days of the hearing and within 80 days of the appeal. If you disagree with the outcome, you can request reconsideration within 15 days.
Your Next-Steps Checklist
Click each item as you complete it.
- Do not change anything based on the pause announcement alone — your current authorization is unaffected
- Find your most recent RCOC authorization letter and write down your exact monthly respite hours
- Compare that number against RCOC’s four published levels and identify which level you are currently in
- Read the qualifying circumstances for the next level up and note every one that is true in your household today
- Check how many of this fiscal year’s authorized hours you have actually used — unused hours expire June 30 and do not carry over
- Ask your service coordinator to document any new medical need, behavior change, or caregiver health change in the record now, not at your next annual IPP
- If the parent voucher system is not working for your family, get the reason documented in writing in your chart
- If you have been skipping disability conferences or support groups for lack of coverage, ask whether respite hours can cover that time
- Watch for the DDS public webinar expected in late August 2026 explaining the pause
- If you receive a Notice of Action reducing services, calendar both the 30-day and 60-day appeal deadlines immediately
Test What You Know
1. What did DDS announce on August 3, 2026?
2. Which law required California to create a standardized respite assessment?
3. Who determines your respite hours in Orange County right now?
4. What happens to authorized respite hours you do not use by June 30?
5. How long do you have to appeal a Notice of Action if you want services to continue during the appeal?
Frequently Asked Questions
Where This Leaves Orange County Families
The honest summary is that a three-year effort to make respite fairer across California has stopped short, and the families it was meant to help are back where they started: dependent on their own regional center’s guidelines, their own documentation, and their own willingness to ask.
That is a frustrating place to be. It is also a workable one, because RCOC’s criteria are published and concrete. The families who get to Level 2 and Level 3 are usually not the families with the greatest need. They are the families whose greatest need is written down in the file. If you take one thing from this article, make it that.
Related reading: arranging respite before you travel, CalAIM Community Supports in Orange County, and the GUIDE Model’s dementia respite benefit.
Questions About Regional Center Respite in Orange County?
At Home VA Staffing is a vendored Regional Center of Orange County in-home respite provider (vendor number HM1718). If you want help understanding your current authorization, documenting a request for additional hours, or putting reliable caregivers in place, we are happy to talk it through with no obligation.
Talk to Our Team · (213) 326-7452This article is provided for general informational purposes and reflects publicly available information as of August 7, 2026. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for guidance from the Regional Center of Orange County, the California Department of Developmental Services, or a qualified advocate. Respite eligibility, service levels, and appeal rights depend on individual circumstances and are determined by your planning team and the applicable regional center guidelines. Program details may change. RCOC can be reached at 714-796-5100. At Home VA Staffing does not determine regional center authorizations.
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