Iowa

IOWA’S SUPPORT NETWORK

• Iowa Family Caregiver

Offers: Adult day, in-home, and overnight respite options, with no cap on services; other services include assistive technology, care management, supplies, counseling, emergency response, family consultation and family meetings, home modification/repairs, homemaker/chore/ personal care, information and assistance, legal and/or financial consultation, support groups and transportation.

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

Eligibility: No minimum age for caregivers; care receivers must be age 60 or older. Care recipients must 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.

• Elderly Waiver

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight, and weekend respite options, with variable caps on services; other services include assistive technology, education and training, attendant care, chore, emergency response, home-delivered meals, home and vehicle modifications, nutrition counseling and transportation.

Funded by: Medicaid home and community based services waiver; administered by the Iowa Department of Human Services, the state’s Medicaid agency.

Eligibility: Caregivers must be a minimum of age 18; care recipients must be over age 65 and have impairment in two or more 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 Iowa programs.

Funded by: Older Americans Act Title III E, state general revenues, and other sources. The Family Caregiver Support Program is administered by the Iowa Department of Elder Affairs 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. Both Iowa caregiver support programs offer some level of consumer direction.

• Iowa Family Caregiver offers families a choice of respite providers, a menu of services from which to choose, a voucher or budget for respite and/or supplemental services, and direct payments to family members for the purchase of goods or services. Family members also may be paid to provide personal care and respite services.
• Elderly Waiver offers family members a choice of respite providers and permits family caregivers to be paid to provide personal care services.

LEGISLATION

• HB 386 (Enacted 2003): Includes support for caregivers to sustain older people in their homes.

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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