In-Home Supportive Services (Ihss) County Social: Fill & Download for Free

Thanks for the A2A. This answer only applies if you live in the US.There are many ways to find attendants (care givers), depending on the services you qualify for and how much you’re able to afford.If you qualify for Medicaid, you may qualify for In-Home-Supportive Services (IHSS in California…not sure what other states call it) where your county pays for someone from their list of “providers”. These attendants have been passed background checks and received some basic training. They are paid to help you for a certain number of hours per month. This program has many, many problems. The attendants get paid only slightly above minimum wage for doing what can be extremely demanding work (lifting, cleaning up bodily waste, dealing with some really unpleasant personalities, to name a few) and the pay schedule is erratic at best. Right now, a program is being rolled out that will require IHSS attendants to wear tracking devices to cut down on alleged fraud.[1]If you want to pay out-of-pocket like I do, you have a few options.Private Agencies charge you for anything from a list of screened, bonded workers that you call yourself to a person who discusses your needs and matches you with a worker. They handle the payroll and all the overhead. The problem with this way of doing things is that it’s expensive, and a lot of your hourly fee can go towards overhead.If you want to avoid paying agency fees, you can get lists from a variety of sources. These lists are free or low cost, but the workers are not screened. You can find lists like this by calling your local Center for Independent Living/Independent Living Center, which are non-profit resource centers for people with disabilities and elders. National Council on Independent Living Other agencies call themselves centers for independent living, but if they’re for-profit, they’re agencies like the ones mentioned above.Some people post ads on services like http://Craigslist.org or Job Search | Indeed. You can be very specific about what you need and what you’re looking for, but again, no screening.If you want something where you can find screened people, sites like Find Child Care, Senior Care, Pet Care and Housekeeping do offer the option for attendants to post their background checks. They also have reviews of attendants and employers, and limited help with payroll issues.There are forums and social media groups full of people who are looking for similar services. I belong to a Facebook group for attendants and employers in my area. Employers post their needs, attendants post their availability, and you match up. Members of the group can also leave feedback.Good, old-fashioned, analog word of mouth. Meet with your friends for coffee and trade names.Good luck, and please let us know what works for you!Footnotes[1] Disabled People Fear Losing Independence Under New GPS Tracking Mandate