Texas

TEXAS’ SUPPORT NETWORK

• Family Caregiver Support Program

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

Funded by: National Family Caregiver Support Program under Older Americans Act Title III E and state general funds; administered by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services 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.

• Community Based Alternatives

Offers: In-home and overnight respite options, capped at 720 hours per year; other services include nursing, personal assistance, physical, occupational, and speech therapies, adaptive aids, medical supplies, minor home modifications, assisted living, adult foster care, home -delivered meals, and emergency response systems.

Funded by: Medicaid home and community-based services waiver and state general funds; administered at the state and local levels by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services.

Eligibility: No minimum age for caregivers; care recipients must be age 21 or older and meet nursing home level of care criteria.

• In-Home and Family Support Program

Offers: Service subsidies and capital expenditures, cash grants, capped at $1,200 per year, including copayments.  Funds may be used for adult day, in-home or overnight respite options, goods (including equipment), supplies, or services directly related to the care of a person with a physical disability.

Funded by: State general funds; administered at the state and local levels by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services.

Eligibility: No minimum age for caregivers. Care recipients must be a minimum of age 4 and have impairment in at least one activity of daily living and instrumental activity 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 Texas programs.

Funded by: Older Americans Act Title III E, state general revenues, and other sources. The Family Caregiver Support Program is administered by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services 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. All three Texas caregiver support programs offer some level of consumer direction.

• Family Caregiver Support Program offers respite vouchers, which may be used to pay family members to provide respite services.
• Community-Based Alternatives offers consumer-directed attendant care and a choice of respite providers. Family members may be paid to provide personal care or respite services.  Care recipients who choose the consumer-directed service options may select and manage their care providers within an allotted budget, authorized by a case manager.
• In-Home and Family Support Program offers cash grants for goods, supplies and services directly related to the care of people with disabilities. Family members may be paid to provide respite and/or personal care services.

LEGISLATION

None 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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