Arkansas

ARKANSAS’ SUPPORT NETWORK

• Family Caregiver Support Program

Offers: Adult day or in-home respite options, capped at $1,000 per year; other services include assistive technology, care management, consumer health applications, counseling, education and training, home modification /repairs, support groups, homemaker/chore/personal care, information and assistance, legal and/or financial consultation, and transportation services.

Funded by: National Family Caregiver Support Program under Older Americans Act Title III E; administered by the Arkansas Department of Human Services/Division of Aging and Adult Services and locally by area agencies on aging.

Eligibility: Caregivers must be age 18 or older. Care receivers must be age 60 or older and have impairment in two or more activities of daily living for respite/supplemental services and a diagnosis of dementia or related disorder and/or require supervision.

• ElderChoices Medicaid Waiver

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight, and weekend/camp respite options, capped at 600 hours per year.

Funded by: Medicaid home and community-based services waiver; administered by the Arkansas Department of Human Services/Division of Aging Services and locally by Division of Aging registered nurses.

Eligibility: Caregivers must be age 18 or older. Care recipients must be age 65 or older and meet nursing home level of care criteria.

• Grandparent and Other Relative Caregiver Support Programs

Offers: Respite care and other support services designed to address the needs of grandparent and other relative caregivers of children. See www.gu.org/factsheets.asp for details on Arkansas programs.

Funded by: Older Americans Act Title III E, state general revenues, and other sources. The Family Caregiver Support Program is administered by the Arkansas Department of Human Services/Division of Aging Services and locally by area agencies on aging.

Eligibility: Grandparent and other relative caregivers must be a minimum of age 60 and caring for a child age 18 or younger to receive services in the Family Caregiver Support Program.

CONSUMER DIRECTION

Consumer direction is a philosophy that accommodates people’s needs and preferences by offering them maximum choice and control over services they use.

• The Family Caregiver Support Program offers cash grants, vouchers, or budgets for respite and/or supplemental services.  In addition, families have a choice of respite providers and can be paid to provide personal care, homemaker, chore, and respite services.

LEGISLATION

None related to caregiving

Sources: National Association of State Units on Aging, e-mail survey of State Family Caregiver Support Program contacts, Washington, D.C., June 2005; National Center on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren at Georgia State University, Research—Fact Sheets, Atlanta, Ga., 2005; Feinberg, Lynn Friss, et al., The State of the States in Family Caregiver Support: A 50-State Study, Washington, D.C.: Family Caregiver Alliance, National Center on Caregiving, 2004; Generations United, National Center on Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children, State Fact Sheets, Washington, D.C., October 2003; National Family Caregivers Association, Prevalence and Economic Value of Family Caregiving: State-by-State Analysis, Kensington, Md., 2000; U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000.

Contact

Ronda Gilbert
DHS–Division of Aging and Adult Services
P.O. Box 1437–Slot S530
Little Rock, Ark. 72203-1437
(501) 682-0426
ronda.gilbert@arkansas.gov
www.state.ar.us/dhs/aging/