Michigan

MICHIGAN’S SUPPORT NETWORK

• Family Caregiver Support Program

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight and weekend/camp respite options, with no caps on service; other services include assistive technology, supplies, counseling, education and training, family consultation, home modification/repairs, information and assistance, homemaker/chore/ personal care, support groups and transportation.

Funded by: National Family Caregiver Support Program under Older Americans Act Title III E and client contributions; administered by the Michigan Office of Services to the Aging and locally by area agencies on aging.

Eligibility: No age limits specified for caregivers; care receivers must be age 60 or older. The care receiver must need assistance with two or more activities of daily living or have a cognitive impairment to receive respite or supplemental services.

• MI Choice

Offers: Adult day, in-home, and overnight respite options, with no cap on services; other services include counseling and education and training services.

Funded by: Medicaid home and community-based services waiver and state general funds; administered by the Michigan Department of Community Health and locally by area agencies on aging and individual contractors.

Eligibility: Caregivers must be over age 18; no minimum age for care recipients, who must meet nursing home level of care criteria.

• State/Escheat Respite

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight, or weekend/camp respite options, with no cap on services.

Funded by: Uncashed Blue Cross/Blue Shield checks returned to the Michigan Department of Treasury; administered by the Michigan Office of Services to the Aging and locally by area agencies on aging.

Eligibility: Either the caregiver or care recipient must be age 60 or older; care recipients must require assistance with two or more activities of daily living or have a cognitive impairment.

• Caregiver Respite Program

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight, and weekend/camp respite options, with no cap on services; transportation services also may be provided.

Funded by: Tobacco settlement funds; administered by the Michigan Office of Services to the Aging and locally by area agencies on aging and approved Home and Community-Based Services/Elderly and Disabled Medicaid Waiver agents.

Eligibility: No minimum age for caregivers. Care recipients must be a minimum of age 18 and have a disability.

• 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 Michigan programs.

Funded by: Older Americans Act Title III E, state general revenues, and other sources. The Family Caregiver Support Program is administered by the Michigan Office of Services to the 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. Three Michigan caregiver support programs offer some level of consumer direction.

• Family Caregiver Support Program offers a choice of respite providers and a voucher or budget for respite and/or supplemental services.
• State/Escheat Program offers a choice of respite providers and vouchers or budgets for respite services.
• Caregiver Respite Program offers a choice of respite providers and vouchers or budgets for respite services.

LEGISLATION

• MI H.B. 4476 (Enacted 2004): The Michigan Lifespan Respite Act of 2004 established a lifespan respite services network, administered by the Department of Community Health, to promote information exchange and coordination among community-based nonprofit and for-profit agencies, state and local governments, families and respite care advocates.  Encourages efficient and nonduplicative provision of respite services, including development and dissemination of information and establishment of a respite care Web site and a toll-free information hotline.

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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