Cook Children’s Health Plan Home Care: Personal Care Services for Your Child
If your child is covered by Cook Children’s Health Plan, their STAR Kids benefits can pay for a trained attendant to help with everyday care at home. Newport Home Health is a licensed Texas home care agency that provides those attendants — and we already serve dozens of Cook Children’s Health Plan families across Fort Worth and the surrounding area.
Have a service coordinator already? Ready to start? Call 972-602-3500 and we’ll take it from there.
What Cook Children’s Health Plan covers at home
For STAR Kids members who qualify, Cook Children’s Health Plan covers Personal Care Services (PCS) — a trained attendant who comes to your home and helps your child with:
- Bathing, grooming, and hygiene
- Getting dressed and ready for the day
- Mealtimes and help eating safely
- Moving around — transfers, positioning, and wheelchair support
- Toileting and incontinence care, handled with dignity
- Safety supervision for children who wander or need line-of-sight care
- Morning and bedtime routines that take more hands than one parent has
Cook Children’s Health Plan offers STAR Kids, STAR, and CHIP. The PCS benefit described on this page comes with Medicaid coverage — for most children with disabilities, that’s STAR Kids. If your child has STAR or CHIP instead, coverage works differently; call us and we’ll help you sort out the options honestly. Some STAR Kids members also qualify for extra services, like respite, through the Medically Dependent Children Program (MDCP) — your service coordinator can tell you what applies to your child.
Who qualifies
PCS is for children and young adults (birth through age 20) with Medicaid whose disability or chronic health condition means they need hands-on help beyond what a typically developing child the same age would need. There’s no master list of qualifying diagnoses — it’s about your child’s day-to-day function. Cook Children’s Health Plan serves families in Tarrant County and the surrounding North Texas counties, and that’s the heart of where our Fort Worth-area caregivers work.
How PCS hours get authorized
Here’s the honest version of how hours happen. You ask your Cook Children’s Health Plan service coordinator for a personal care assessment. The coordinator assesses your child using the state’s STAR Kids assessment (the SK-SAI), your child’s doctor confirms the need, and the plan authorizes a number of hours based on that assessment. The authorization then goes to the agency you choose.
Hours are based on your child’s assessed needs — no agency can promise a specific number. What we can do is help you prepare for the assessment (answer for the hard days, not the good ones), make sure paperwork doesn’t stall, and get an attendant in place quickly once hours are approved. Needs are reassessed at least every 12 months. For the full picture of how PCS works, read our parent’s guide to pediatric personal care services in Texas.
How Newport works with Cook Children’s service coordinators
Service coordinators move authorizations to agencies that respond fast and staff reliably — and that working relationship is something we’ve built family by family in the Fort Worth area. When a Cook Children’s Health Plan authorization reaches us, we confirm it quickly, match your child with an attendant (including bilingual caregivers when your family needs one), and document every visit through the state’s electronic visit verification system, so your child’s services hold up at reassessment time.
If your child’s needs change mid-year — a surgery, a new school schedule, a health setback — we work with your coordinator on updates instead of leaving you to chase paperwork alone.
Can a parent be paid to care for their own child?
This is the question we hear most, so here’s the straight answer. Texas limits which family members can be the paid attendant for a child. Under the state’s STAR Kids rules, the paid PCS attendant cannot be the child’s “responsible adult” — for a child under 18, that generally means the parent or guardian — and cannot be the member’s spouse. So a parent generally cannot be paid to provide PCS for their own minor child. Other relatives often can: a grandparent, an aunt or uncle, or an adult sibling who meets hiring requirements can often be hired as the paid attendant. Call 972-602-3500 and we’ll walk through your family’s situation honestly.
Frequently asked questions
Does Cook Children’s Health Plan pay for home care for my child?
Yes — for STAR Kids members with an assessed need, Cook Children’s Health Plan covers Personal Care Services: a trained attendant who helps with bathing, dressing, feeding, mobility, and safety at home. The amount of help is set by an assessment through your service coordinator.
Can I be paid to take care of my own child?
Usually not if you’re the parent of a minor child — Texas rules bar the child’s responsible adult (and a member’s spouse) from being the paid PCS attendant. Other relatives, like a grandparent, aunt, or adult sibling, often can be paid caregivers. Call us and we’ll walk through your family’s specific situation.
How many hours will my child get?
Hours come from the STAR Kids assessment and your child’s documented needs — not from the agency. No agency can honestly promise a number up front. Hours are reassessed at least every 12 months, or sooner if your child’s situation changes.
Do you serve my part of the Cook Children’s service area?
Cook Children’s Health Plan covers Tarrant County and surrounding counties, and our caregivers work throughout the Fort Worth area and greater Dallas-Fort Worth. Call 972-602-3500 with your zip code and we’ll confirm coverage for your neighborhood in one call.
Get started
Whether you already have an authorization or you’re just starting to figure out what your child qualifies for, call 972-602-3500 or send the form below. You can also see every plan we accept on our insurance and programs page.
Newport Home Health · 2080 N State Hwy 360, Suite 350, Grand Prairie, TX 75050 · 972-602-3500