Massachusetts

MASSACHUSETTS’ SUPPORT NETWORK

• Family Caregiver Support Program

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight and week-end/camp respite options. Other services include counseling; education and training; information and assistance; support groups; care management; family consultation and meetings; legal and/or financial consultation; assistive devices; home modification/repairs, homemaker/chore/personal care; transportation; and supplies.

Funded by: National Family Caregiver Support Program under Older Americans Act Title III E, state general funds, foundation funds, private donations and voluntary client contributions; administered by Massachusetts Office of Elder Affairs and locally by area agencies on aging/Aging Services Access Points.

Eligibility: Caregivers must be age 18 or older; care recipients must be a minimum of age 60.

• Home and Community-Based Waiver

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight and week-end respite options, with no caps on services; other services include home modification/repairs, homemaker/chore/personal care, and transportation.

Funded by: Medicaid home and community-based services waiver and state general funds; administered by Massachusetts Office of Elder Affairs and locally by Aging Services Access Points.

Eligibility: No minimum age for caregivers; recipients must be a minimum of age 60 and meet nursing home level of care criteria.

• Home Care Program

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight and week-end respite options, with no caps on services; other services include home modification/repairs, homemaker/chore/personal care, and transportation.

Funded by: State general funds and voluntary client contributions; administered by the Massachusetts Office of Elder Affairs and locally by Aging Services Access Points.

Eligibility: No minimum age for caregivers. Recipients must be a minimum of age 60 and be impaired in four or more activities of daily living and/or 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 Massachusetts programs.

Funded by: Older Americans Act Title III E, state general revenues, and other sources. The Family Caregiver Support Program is administered by the Massachusetts Office of Elder Affairs and locally by area agencies on aging/Aging Services Access Points.

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. One Massachusetts caregiver support program offers consumer direction.

• Family Caregiver Support Program offers a menu of services, including respite and supplemental services from which caregivers choose.
• Home Care Program offers a menu of services in some areas of the state.

LEGISLATION

No legislation 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.

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