Illinois

ILLINOIS’ SUPPORT NETWORK

• Family Caregiver Support Program

Offers: Adult day, in-home, and overnight respite options, with variable caps based on need; other services include information and assistance, case management, counseling, support groups, family consultation, education and training, legal/financial consultation, assistive technology, supplies, home modification/repairs and transportation.

Funded by: National Family Caregiver Support Program under Older Americans Act Title III E; administered by the Illinois Department on Aging and locally by area agencies on aging.

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

• Community Care Program

Offers: Adult day or in-home respite options, with variable caps based on need; other services include information and assistance, case management, counseling, support groups, family consultation, education and training, legal/financial consultation, assistive technology, supplies, home modification/repairs, and transportation.

Funded by: Medicaid home and community-based services waiver and state general funds; administered at the state and local levels by the Illinois Department on Aging.

Eligibility: No minimum age for caregivers; care recipients must be age 60 or older and require assistance in a combination of activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living or meet nursing home level of care criteria.

• Home Services Program

Offers: Adult day or in-home respite options, with variable caps based on need; other services include information and assistance, case management, counseling, support groups, family consultation, education and training for caregivers, legal/financial consultation, assistive technology, supplies, home modification/repairs and transportation services.

Funded by: Medicaid home and community-based services waiver and state general funds; administered at the state level by the Illinois Department of Human Services and locally by the Medicaid Agency.

Eligibility: Caregivers and care recipients must be a minimum of age 18. Care recipients must be physically disabled or have impairment in a combination of activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living.

• 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 Illinois programs.

Funded by: Older Americans Act Title III E, state general revenues, and other sources. The Family Caregiver Support Program is administered by the Illinois Department on Aging 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. All three Illinois caregiver support programs offer some level of consumer direction.

• Family Caregiver Support Program offers a menu of services, a voucher or budget for respite and/or supplemental services, direct payments to family members for the purchase of goods or services, and a choice of respite providers. One Planning and Service Area permits family members to be paid to provide respite and personal care services.
• Community Care Program offers families who choose to receive respite at home a choice of homemaker providers.
• Home Service Programs also offers families who choose to receive respite at home a choice of homemaker providers and permits family members to be paid to provide personal care services.

LEGISLATION

• IL HB 6706 (Enacted August 2004): Created the Family Caregiver Act to encourage family members to provide care for elderly family members, the Department on Aging to contract with area agencies on aging and other appropriate agencies to provide family caregiver support services to the extent funding is available and included the following services: counseling, training, respite care and emergency respite under certain circumstances.
• HB 2461/Public Act 094-0336 (Enacted in 2005): Adds family caregivers for adults with disabilities over age 18 to the populations eligible to be served by the state’s Family Caregiver Act.
• SRO 148 urges Congress to amend the federal Older Americans Act to include older caregivers of adult children with developmental disabilities as an eligible population to receive services in the National Family Caregiver Support Program.

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.

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