Family Caregiver Support: State Facts at a Glance
February 2006
By Greg Link and Virginia Dize with Donna Folkemer
© Copyright 2006 by the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Association of State Units on Aging
ISBN 1-58024-439-4
 Download PDF Version or Purchase from the NCSL Bookstore
Family Caregiver Support: State Facts at a Glance provides a compendium of information about family caregivers of older Americans and the state-level programs that serve them. Family and friends, not public or private service programs, provide the bulk of long-term care services for older Americans. An estimated 44.4 million family caregivers provide help to adult relatives and friends who need assistance with basic daily activities such as meal preparation, bathing and household chores.
The caregiving services that family and friends provide in the informal market are valuable to recipients and to the nation as a whole. Because 75 percent of all people who receive long-term care at home rely exclusively on family members or friends for that care, supporting caregivers is essential to ensure delivery of home and community-based services.
States have a variety of programs in place to support family caregivers of older people. The National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP) was created within the Older Americans’ Act in 2000. The program, modeled on previous state endeavors, provides a range of services to caregivers. Among the services are information about and assistance to access support services, counseling, training and respite care. Each state receives NFCSP funds under a formula allocation.
Most states use Medicaid funds to support home and community-based care for older people. Some of the services provided through Medicaid home and community-based services waivers support family caregivers. The services provided in each state are outlined in this report.
Some states have designed their own state-funded programs to complement NFSCP or Medicaid programs. This report describes services offered through state programs. It also identifies state legislative initiatives offered through state programs and identifies state legislative initiatives that have shaped state programs for family caregivers.
This report provides information about state demographics and programs related to caregiving. The state profiles offer a snapshot of each state’s or jurisdiction’s policies on caregiver support. The information can be used to learn about programs that are available to constituents and to gain an understanding of similar programs in other states.
The National Center on Caregiving at Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA) has released a new Issue Brief called Support for Working Family Caregivers: Paid Leave Policies in California and Beyond, published June 2006. The brief discusses the value of paid family and medical leave to both working families and employers, and highlights why this issue is taking hold in the states. For more information, visit their website at www.caregiver.org or contact Lynn Friss Feinberg at lfeinberg@caregiver.org.
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