Louisiana

LOUISIANA’S SUPPORT NETWORK

• Family Caregiver Support Program

Offers: In-home respite options, capped at 96 hours per year; other services include homemaker/chore/personal care, adult day health care, adult day care, group respite, counseling, material aid (medical and other supplies), support groups, information and assistance, and sitter services.

Funded by: National Family Caregiver Support Program under Older Americans Act Title III E and voluntary contributions; administered by the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Elderly Affairs and locally by area agencies on aging and Parish Councils 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.

• Medicaid Home and Community-Based Waiver

Offers: A range of services for care receivers from which caregivers may benefit indirectly, including assistive technologies, care management, counseling, education and training, emergency response, family consultation, family meetings, home modification/repairs, homemaker/ chore/personal care, information and assistance, legal and/or financial consultation, support groups, and transportation services.

Funded by: Medicaid home and community-based services waiver and Real Choice Systems Change Grant funds; administered at the state and local levels by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, the state Medicaid agency.

Eligibility: Caregivers must be age 21 or older; care recipients must be a minimum of age 65 and physically disabled or 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 Louisiana programs.

Funded by: Older Americans Act Title III E, state general revenues, and other sources. The Family Caregiver Support Program is administered by the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Elderly Affairs and locally by area agencies on aging and Parish Councils 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 Louisiana programs offer some level of consumer direction.

• Family Caregiver Support Program offers caregivers a menu of services from which they may choose.
• Medicaid Home and Community-Based Waiver offers a menu of services, a choice of respite providers, and family members may be paid to provide personal care services.

LEGISLATION

• LA S.B. 492 (Enacted 2004): Provides for the development of respite care programs.

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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