Montana

MONTANA’S SUPPORT NETWORK

• Family Caregiver Support Program

Offers: Adult day, in-home, or overnight respite options, with no cap on services; other services include education and training, support groups, assistive technology, information and assistance, homemaker/chore/personal care, and transportation

Funded by: National Family Caregiver Support Program under Older Americans Act Title III E, local/county funds, and client contributions; administered at the state level by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services/Office on Aging 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.

• Home and Community-Based Services Program for Elderly and Physically Disabled

Offers: Adult day, in-home, or overnight respite options, with no cap on services; other services include education and training, support groups, care management, counseling, family consultation, and family meetings.

Funded by: Medicaid home and community-based services waiver and Real Choice Systems Change Grant funds; administered at the state level by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services and locally by the Medicaid agency.

Eligibility: Caregivers must be over age 18; care receivers must 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 Montana programs.

Funded by: Older Americans Act Title III E, state general revenues, and other sources. The Family Caregiver Support Program is administered by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Resources/Office 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. Currently, one Montana program offers consumer direction.

• The Home and Community-Based Services Program for Elderly and Physically Disabled offers caregivers a menu of services, and family members may be paid to provide personal care or other services needed by the care recipient.

LEGISLATION

• MT H.B. 150 (Enacted 2003): Revised respite care wage and hour exemptions for companionship services, unemployment insurance and worker’s compensation insurance if the person providing service is employed directly by the family or legal guardian.

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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