Skip to content
Carevo

Structured Family Caregiving in Indiana: who can be paid and how it works

Structured Family Caregiving pays a caregiver who lives with a waiver participant, including a spouse or parent. FSSA pays an agency a daily rate, and the agency pays the caregiver and coaches them.

Carevo editorial team Updated October 27, 2026 Source checked by Carevo editorial team, October 27, 2026

Structured Family Caregiving (SFC) pays a caregiver who lives in your home, including a spouse or a parent. Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) pays a daily rate to an approved SFC agency, and the agency coaches the caregiver. It is available under the PathWays and Health and Wellness waivers.

What SFC is

FSSA's one-page SFC summary, last updated 8/25/2025, says SFC allows a caregiver living with an individual to be paid for daily care and support. The caregiver may be a family member or a nonfamily member and must live in the home. The provider agency trains the caregiver based on the individual's needs and checks that the caregiver meets qualifications. FSSA says the provider completes two quarterly home visits by a Caregiver Coach or RN and keeps regular contact with the caregiver and the individual.

The FSSA FAQ says the coach and nursing staff provide support and training, but do not provide skilled care. Families can continue skilled tasks that a physician or hospital discharge team taught them. SFC is not meant to replace the family relationship, so the FAQ says giving medication as a family member is part of that relationship and is not an SFC service.

Who can be the paid caregiver

FSSA's guidance, effective July 1, 2024, lists who may provide structured family care for an adult on the Health and Wellness or PathWays waivers: the spouse, a guardian, a biological or adoptive parent, a stepparent, a power of attorney, an authorized Medicaid representative and other relatives. For a minor child on the Health and Wellness waiver, it lists a biological or adoptive parent, a guardian, a stepparent, a foster parent and other relatives.

The same guidance bars spouses, and parents and guardians of minors, from attendant care, a different service. So a spouse who wants to be paid in Indiana goes through SFC.

How the pay works

FSSA's FAQ says FSSA pays a daily rate to the SFC provider when services are delivered on that day. The caregiver is paid by the agency, and how the agency shares the daily rate is between the two. The FAQ says a care manager sets the SFC level, 1, 2 or 3, from a needs-based assessment. We did not find a dollar rate on the pages we read, and we do not state one. Ask providers what they pay the caregiver.

Respite

The FAQ says the agency must provide the principal caregiver up to 15 days of unskilled respite per calendar year, and that funding is included in the daily rate. How days are counted, and whether the caregiver is paid on respite days, depends on the provider. Skilled respite is not part of SFC but can be requested as a separate waiver service.

What cannot be paid at the same time

The FAQ says separate payment may not be made for home and community assistance, assisted living, attendant care or adult family care while someone has SFC. It says people with SFC can also get State Plan Home Health if they qualify, delivered on the same day but not at the same moment, and not by the same paid caregiver. A paid SFC caregiver cannot also be paid as the home health aide or nurse for the same person.

How to start

  1. Be on a waiver. The SFC summary says SFC is available under PathWays and Health and Wellness. FSSA's waiting list page says both have waitlists, with counts dated October 2026.
  2. Ask your waiver care manager whether SFC fits and for SFC providers in your area. The FAQ says to ask your care manager for providers.
  3. Choose an agency and confirm how it pays the caregiver, what coaching it gives and how it handles respite.

For agency requirements, FSSA's summary says SFC owners must show three years of direct, hands-on care experience or national accreditation, and must employ a Caregiver Coach or RN.

See the Indiana program overview, paid family caregiver in Indiana, home care in Indiana, home health in Indiana, nursing homes in Indiana and developmental disability services in Indiana.

Carevo is a connection platform and directory. We do not run SFC, decide eligibility or set pay.

More about care in Indiana

Looking for care?

Tell us your ZIP code and the type of care, and we will show providers that serve your area.

Common questions

What is Structured Family Caregiving?

FSSA says SFC allows a caregiver living with an individual to be paid for providing daily care and support. The caregiver may be a family member or not, and must live in the home. It is available under the PathWays and Health and Wellness waivers.

Can a spouse be paid under SFC?

Yes. FSSA's guidance lists the spouse of a waiver recipient among the relationships that may provide structured family care. The same guidance says that from July 2024 a spouse may not provide attendant care.

Can a parent be paid to care for a minor child?

Under SFC, yes. FSSA lists biological or adoptive parents, guardians and stepparents of a minor child as allowed to provide structured family care, and says parents of minors may not provide attendant care.

How is the caregiver paid?

FSSA pays a daily rate to the SFC provider when services are delivered that day under an approved service plan. The provider agency employs or contracts the caregiver. We did not find a dollar amount on the FSSA pages we read.

Is there respite?

Yes. FSSA says the agency must provide the principal caregiver up to 15 days of unskilled respite per calendar year, funded in the daily rate. Skilled respite is separate and can be requested as a waiver service.

What cannot be paid at the same time?

FSSA's FAQ says separate payment may not be made for home and community assistance, assisted living, attendant care or adult family care while a person has SFC. State Plan Home Health can be authorized if the person qualifies, but not delivered by the same paid caregiver.

Does Carevo enroll people in SFC?

No. Carevo is a connection platform and directory. Ask your waiver care manager for SFC providers in your area.

Sources

Review status: Carevo checked this page against the primary sources listed above. It has not been professionally reviewed by a registered nurse, licensed social worker, benefits counselor or attorney. See our editorial standards.

This page is general information, not financial, legal or medical advice. Rules and services vary by state and by individual circumstances. Use the official sources and decision-maker named on the page. Carevo is a connection platform, not a care provider.