Can I get paid to care for a parent?

Medicaid: your parent hires their own helpers

If your parent has Medicaid and needs help at home, ask the state Medicaid agency about home and community-based services and self-directed services. Many of these programs run under Medicaid "waivers" (section 1915(c)).

In self-directed services, your parent (or someone acting for them) decides who provides some services and can recruit, hire, train and supervise their own workers. The state provides a counselor and a financial management service that handles pay and taxes. Most self-directed programs let relatives of the person getting care be paid workers. Each state sets its own rules, including which relatives can be hired and the pay rate; a spouse or other legally responsible relative can be paid only in some programs. Ask the state which family members can be the paid worker.

How to start: contact your state Medicaid agency, or the local Area Agency on Aging through the Eldercare Locator (below). See your state guide for state programs.

Veterans

• Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers: for a veteran with a VA disability rating of 70% or higher who needs at least 6 months of continuous, in-person personal care. A spouse, son, daughter, parent, stepfamily member or extended family member aged 18 or older may qualify. Benefits include a monthly stipend, caregiver training, at least 30 days of respite care a year, and health coverage through CHAMPVA if the caregiver has no other health plan.
• Veteran-Directed Care: the veteran gets a budget for services and, with a counselor's help, hires their own workers, who may include a family member or neighbor.
• Program of General Caregiver Support Services: peer mentoring, skills training, coaching and telephone support for caregivers of veterans. No application is needed, and the caregiver does not have to be a relative.
• Aid and Attendance: a monthly amount added to a VA pension for a veteran or survivor who needs another person's help with daily activities such as bathing, eating and dressing. Your parent receives it and can use it toward care.

Ask at the veteran's VA medical center, call the VA Caregiver Support Line at 1-855-260-3274, or call the VA benefits hotline at 1-800-827-1000.

Tax help

• Child and Dependent Care Credit: if you pay someone to care for a parent who cannot care for themselves, lived with you more than half the year and is your dependent, so that you can work or look for work, you may be able to claim up to 35% of those costs. The costs counted are generally up to $3,000 for one person ($6,000 for two or more). See IRS Publication 503.
• Claiming a parent as a dependent: your parent does not have to live with you. You must provide more than half of their support, and their gross income must be below a limit the IRS sets each year (see Publication 501). You may then claim the Credit for Other Dependents of up to $500.
• Medical expenses: you can include medical costs you paid for your dependent parent when you itemize medical expenses (the part above 7.5% of your adjusted gross income). See IRS Publication 502.

Time off work

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks a year of unpaid, job-protected leave to care for a parent with a serious health condition. You generally qualify if you have worked for the employer for 12 months and at least 1,250 hours, at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles. You may be able to use paid leave from your employer at the same time. Questions: Wage and Hour Division, 1-866-487-9243.

Free support for caregivers

The National Family Caregiver Support Program, run through local Area Agencies on Aging, helps family members caring for someone 60 or older with:

• information about local services and help getting them,
• counseling, support groups and caregiver training,
• respite care, so you can take a break,
• limited extra services.

Find your local office with the Eldercare Locator: eldercare.acl.gov or 1-800-677-1116 (call or text).

Watch out

• Programs that pay family caregivers are run by states and VA. Be careful with companies that charge a fee to "sign you up" for caregiver pay.
• Payments from Medicaid or VA caregiver programs may affect your own taxes or benefits. Ask the program before you start.

Related guides

• Managing a parent's benefits: representative payee and power of attorney
• Paying for a nursing home: Medicare, Medicaid and protecting a spouse

Check what you may qualify for