West Virginia

WEST VIRGINIA’S SUPPORT NETWORK

• Family Caregiver Support Program

Offers: Adult day and in-home respite options, with no cap on services; other services include education and training, information and assistance, and support groups.

Funded by: National Family Caregiver Support Program under Older Americans Act Title III E and Alzheimer’s Disease demonstration grant; administered by the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services and locally by area agencies on aging and local aging services providers.

Eligibility: No minimum age for caregivers; care recipient must be age 60 or older, have a diagnosis of dementia or related disorder and/or require supervision.

• Medicaid Aged and Disabled Waiver

Offers: Case management, self-directed case management, homemaker, transportation, registered nurse, and adult medical day care services.

Funded by: Medicaid home and community-based services waiver and lottery funds; administered by the West Virginia Bureau of Medical Services; operated statewide by the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services.

Eligibility: No minimum age for caregivers who must be employees of a provider agency; recipients must be a minimum of age 18 and 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 West Virginia programs.

Funded by: Older Americans Act Title III E, state general revenues, and other sources. The Family Caregiver Support Program is administered by the West Virginia Bureau of Senior 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. One West Virginia caregiver support programs offer some level of consumer direction.

• Medicaid Aged and Disabled Waiver permits care recipients to choose the case management provider and family members (not including spouses) to be paid to provide homemaker 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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