Children with special needs and the families who love and care for them deserve compassion, understanding and support. Children who suffer injury and abuse deserve a calm, nurturing, and stable place to heal and hope. Respite Care of San Antonio provides care for children with special needs, some of whom have suffered abuse and injury. Respite Care opens arms wide in love and compassion for the children who need them most.

Respite Care was founded in 1987 to provide support for families caring for a child or loved one with developmental disabilities.  The mission - to enhance the stability and nurturing opportunities of these families - is fulfilled by providing community based and overnight shelter services, designed to give short-term relief to participating parents. The availability of these essential respites reduces the incidence of child abuse and neglectful environments while strengthening the family unit.  Full-time daycare is available, providing parents the opportunity to work or attend school.  Part-time day/night out services are available in multiple venues throughout the city, offering parents a short break from caring for their child with special needs.

In 1997 this mission expanded to provide care for children from throughout the state who have been taken into protective custody as a result of abuse and neglect.  Seventeen years later, the Davidson Respite House and Najim Family Respite Home remain the only licensed emergency shelters dedicated to the care of children with special needs in the state of Texas. In the warm and welcoming homes, located in San Antonio’s historic Monte Vista neighborhood, up to thirty children, ranging in age from newborn to seventeen, are cared for by specially trained caregivers.  Respite Care is also licensed to engage foster families to provide care within their homes.   RCSA’s foster program manages multiple homes throughout the community, as well as the Tracy Wolff Respite Home and the Respite Family Foster Home and the HEB Family Respite Home, which serve as transitional foster homes for children in need of safe haven. Onsite medical care is provided in all homes and Respite Developmental Daycare, allowing the enrollment of children with complex medical conditions.  

To commemorate the unique services this entity provides, Respite Care’s 29th Anniversary Luncheon will be held Wednesday, November 9, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. at the Mays Family Center at the Witte Museum.  This event will celebrate the service of Respite Care's retiring CEO, Bert Pfiester and welcome new CEO, Larry Mejia.

To learn more about Respite Care or to purchase sponsorship and tickets to this very special celebration, visit www.respitecaresa.org.