Quick Answer
Respite care gives family caregivers a planned break while their parents receive support at home. It fits families who need a set day off, a trip away, or help during a hard stretch. Visits cover daily routines, personal care, or rides to appointments. Dignified Choice Care builds a care plan around your parent’s needs, with a four-hour minimum per shift.
Respite Care That Makes Room for Your Own Commitments
Respite care means a trained caregiver provides short-term care for your parents so you can take a break. For many family caregivers in the Twin Cities, that break is often more than just rest. It’s the work meeting you keep leaving early, the doctor’s appointment you’ve pushed back twice, or your daughter’s tournament two hours away.
Dignified Choice Care talks with you and your parents about what in-home care visits should cover. Your mom may want her usual lunch and company afterward. Your dad may need help dressing before settling into his morning. Our nurse-built care plans are shaped around those details, so you get real time off and your parent’s routine stays the same.
Tell Us When You Need Someone to Stay
Tell us the days you need help and what routines your parents want to keep.
What Can a Respite Caregiver Take Over at Home?
A respite caregiver can handle the daily assistance you provide to your parents while you are away. That may include bathing, dressing, meals, bathroom help, and support moving around the house. Visits can also include companionship, laundry, light cleaning, and other home care services that your mom or dad needs.
Each visit follows a care plan built by a registered nurse before the first shift. Your mom may choose her clothes but needs help getting dressed. Your dad may enjoy preparing lunch with a companion nearby. They have a voice in how each respite care plan is built. Skilled nursing needs, including wound care or feeding tubes, are discussed separately.
Focus on Your Day While Your Parent Keeps Their Routine
Regular respite gives you back whole days, not just a couple of hours away. It helps you manage life and home responsibilities before it turns into burnout. With a caregiver covering a set day or a week, you can sleep, see your own doctor, or finally take that trip. There are also fewer tense calls between siblings on who will stay with mom or dad next Saturday.
Your parents also remain comfortable in their own home. They get to keep their own chair, kitchen, and daily rhythm. Breakfast comes at the usual time, and the afternoon walk still happens. Each respite visit provides one-on-one attention for your parents, from help in the shower to an assisting arm on the stairs. Your parents get steady support at home while you get to focus on your day.
Let’s Talk Through What Makes a Break Possible
We can look at your calendar and decide on days a caregiver could take.
When Families Use Respite Care, and How We Set It Up
Families use respite care for different reasons, and each plan is set up depending on what your parents need and how much time you need away.
When You’re Running Low on Rest: Respite care works best as a standing day or two each weekend, booked before you feel the exhaustion set in. If you get sick or hurt your back and can’t help your dad move safely, we can handle in-home support while you recover.
When You Have Appointments, Work, or a Trip Away: Short-term respite care can also cover a full workday or several days while you travel. A supervisor or client coordinator covers the shift when the assigned caregiver gets sick. There will be no surprise calls telling you no one can stay with your mom or dad, while you’re traveling. Between January and late August 2026, we missed 6 of 8,516 scheduled shifts.
When Your Parent Is Living With Dementia or Alzheimer’s: Dementia and Alzheimer’s respite care is handled by a trained caregiver who understands your parent, not just the diagnosis. The caregiver learns what calms your dad and what can upset him. You don’t have to leave a ten-page note for when moments get confusing.
After Your Parent Comes Home From the Hospital: The first few weeks after a hospital or rehab stay usually need extra caring hands. A caregiver covers the hours and care when you can’t, and a nurse updates the care plan according to the doctor’s discharge instructions. When longer recovery care is needed, our Transition Home / Post-Rehabilitation Support services are available as an additional care plan.
Whether you need respite care for a single trip or a standing day on the calendar, a nurse or trainer accompanies the new caregiver on their first visit. Your family and parents meet them before you step away.
In-Home Support That Fits the Care You Provide
A respite care plan can include different in-home care services based on what your parents need. Explain the daily tasks you normally handle and those that can come up occasionally. We build a care plan that caters to each situation and we will recommend whether qualified nursing staff are needed.
Companion Care
Companion Care means a caregiver keeps your parent company while you are away. Visits may include conversation, games, shared meals, or a walk suited to their abilities. Tell us what your mom or dad enjoys and we will plan activities that reflect their interests.
Personal Care
If you help with bathing, dressing, toileting routines, or moving around at home, Personal Care covers those tasks. Caregivers follow and respect your parent’s preferences. Let us know how your mom likes help offered, particularly with private tasks.
Medication Support & Management
Medication support includes pill organization, medicine reminders, and oversight based on what your parents need. A registered nurse handles and builds the care plan, which the assigned caregiver can follow. Nurse medication setups are billed at the standard hourly rate, not as a separate nursing charge.
Alzheimer’s Care
Alzheimer’s care keeps your parent’s day steady while you’re away. It follows the same routines and approaches that help your mom or dad accept support. Caregivers learn the hardest times of day, often late afternoon, and plan quieter activities around them. Your parent’s familiar activities, preferred words, and usual mealtimes are followed each visit while you are away.
Dementia Care
Dementia care covers how your parents communicate and take part in daily tasks. Tell us what helps your dad when he gets confused or has trouble expressing a need. These details shape the caregiver’s training and care approach.
End of Life Care
End-of-life care support lets your family take real rest while trained caregivers assist with daily care and comfort. We work alongside your parent’s hospice team when appropriate. We are not a hospice provider, and our respite care visits do not replace hospice services.
What Goes Into the Cost of Respite Care?
The cost of respite care is based on how many hours are needed and what kind of care fits your parents. In 2025, the median rate for a non-medical caregiver in Minnesota was $44 per hour (CareScout Cost of Care Survey, 2025). At that rate, one eight-hour respite visit each week comes to about $352.
Length of Each Visit: Respite care is billed by the hour and every shift has a four-hour minimum. Longer visits mean an increase in the number of total billed hours.
Frequency of Care: A recurring weekly schedule and a few consecutive days both mean different costs. Share the full period you need covered with respite care.
Overnights and 24 Hour Home Care: Family trips usually need overnight care or 24 hour home care, which increases respite care hours.
Skilled Nursing Services: Clinical tasks, like wound care or feeding tube care from a nurse, cost more than caregiver hours. You will know any nursing fee up front.
One-Time Setup Fee: We apply a one-time setup fee when respite care begins. Ask us the current amount alongside the hourly rate before deciding.
How You Pay: Our team accepts private pay and long-term care insurance, but not Medicare or Medicaid.
Routine care tasks have no add-on fees. Your parent’s insurance policy determines whether their care benefits cover respite visits in the Twin Cities.
Meet the Caregiver Before You Step Away
Your parents meet and get to know their caregiver before you leave. A nurse or trainer also comes to the first shift and handles the introduction in person. It also gives you a chance to discuss the care handoff together. You can explain where toilet or medicine supplies are kept, how meals usually go, and what your parents prefer when they ask for help.
Dignified Choice Care is family owned and operated. Our founder built the company on referrals, and her family also works in the business today. We understand how families care for their loved ones. That’s why before the first shift, each caregiver is trained on your parent’s care plan, including dementia care when it’s needed. You won’t have to explain why your mom gets anxious after 3PM or why your dad only takes his pills with applesauce.
We hire CNAs (certified nursing assistants), retired nurses, and physical therapists, which goes beyond what Minnesota requires of home care workers. This deep care background means the person you’re introduced to knows what to do if your dad stumbles, and when to call the nurse, rather than waiting for you.
What Families Share About Respite Care at Home
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“…The staff always treated my dad & mom with respect and love. They assigned consistent caregivers so that day to day cares could become routines and so my parents always knew who was coming. This built trust in both my parents and with the caregivers and gave mom the confidence to know that she could leave my dad at home for a couple hours with the caregivers and he would be safe.”
– Julie L., Verified Customer
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“The staff were all very communicative, friendly and attentive, letting myself or my siblings know if they detected changes in mom’s moods or behavior. I highly recommend DCC because they gave us a dignified choice in our care for our mother.”
– Jim G., Verified Customer
Tell Us What the Caregiver Should Know
Respite Care Services Across the Twin Cities Metro
Dignified Choice Care provides in-home respite care across the Twin Cities metro. We support families in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington, Edina, and Eden Prairie.
If you are looking for respite care near you, our service areas page lists each community we cover. Share with us your parent’s address and target care dates, and we will build a respite care plan tailored to their needs and the hours needed.
Respite Care FAQs
How Can I Compare Respite Care Costs?
Compare the total for the same hours and tasks, including setup fees and any nursing charges. Ask what routine care includes and whether a shift minimum applies. Dignified Choice Care has a four-hour shift minimum and a one-time setup fee. Routine care tasks have no add-on fees.
How Long Can Respite Care Last?
Respite care often lasts from a single four-hour shift to several weeks of visits. Some families book one day each week with no definite end date. Others book a block of days around a trip, a work convention, or a recovery from an illness.
How Far Ahead Should I Book Respite Care for a Trip?
Give us at least two to three weeks to plan respite care before a trip. That allows time for a nurse visit, caregiver training on your parent’s routine, and a first shift while you’re still in town. If your plans come together faster, reach out to our team and we’ll work around a possible care plan and schedule.
Can Respite Care Turn Into Regular Home Care?
Yes, and switching to regular home care is often simple because the plan is carried over. A family that starts with one respite day a week can add days when their parent’s needs grow or their work schedule broadens. The nurse adjusts the care plan, while your parent keeps working with the same familiar team that already understands their routine.
What If My Parent Is Unsure About Having a Caregiver?
Your parents can always take part in discussing which tasks they need help with, and how care visits will run. Tell us their questions during a Free Consultation. We can talk through privacy details, daily routines, and care preferences. A nurse or trainer always accompanies the new caregiver for the first visit.
Plan Your Time Away With a Nurse-Built Care Plan
You and your parents have a voice in what a nurse-built care plan will look like. It gives your mom and dad dignified support in their own home, while you focus on life or work.
Call us or send a short form with your questions. Ask us questions on privacy details, support on daily activities, and what costs look like. We will guide you through planning and scheduling respite care for your loved ones.