Caregiver Programs in Connecticut: Paid, Respite, Support (2026)

If you're caring for an aging parent or another relative in Connecticut, the state's Adult Family Living program pays a stipend to a caregiver who lives in the home with the older adult.1 Community First Choice lets an eligible Medicaid member get personal attendant care through self-direction.2

The hard part is rarely whether help exists. It is knowing what is there and where to start. This guide maps every one of Connecticut's caregiver programs for 2026: the ones that pay family members, the free respite grants, the VA benefits, how to apply, and how the payments are taxed.

In This Guide

• Connecticut Caregiver Programs at a Glance
• Programs That Pay Family Caregivers
• How to Apply for Connecticut Caregiver Programs
• Respite Care Programs
• VA Caregiver Benefits in Connecticut
• Taxes for Connecticut Caregivers
• Where to Get Help in Connecticut
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

Connecticut Caregiver Programs at a Glance

Programs That Pay Family Caregivers

Many families assume that getting paid to care for a parent takes professional credentials or a special certification. In Connecticut, it doesn't, but the rules on paying a relative differ sharply from one program to the next. Most of them run through the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS).1,4

The Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders (CHCPE) helps people stay at home instead of going to a nursing home. An applicant must meet all four of DSS's requirements: be 65 or older, live in Connecticut, be at risk of nursing home placement, and meet the program's financial eligibility criteria. It is not free for everyone: clients on the state-funded portion pay a 9% copay, and failing to pay it ends their services. Before you change your work hours, read DSS's own warning: for Personal Care Attendant Services under CHCPE, "family members are NOT eligible to be paid for taking care of relatives with very rare exceptions."1

The Personal Care Assistance (PCA) Waiver is a separate 1915(c) waiver for adults ages 18 to 64 with physical disabilities who meet a nursing facility level of care. Slots fill in the order referrals arrive, and applicants are placed on a waiting list. Referrals go to the DSS Community Options Unit. Under its draft renewal, a live-in relative who is not a legally liable relative may be paid through Adult Family Living; our sources don't say whether a family member can be the paid personal care assistant.4

Adult Family Living (AFL)

Adult Family Living pays a stipend to a caregiver who lives in the home and provides personal care and support to the older adult; Connecticut's MyPlaceCT site calls it non-taxable. DSS's draft PCA Waiver allows the care in either one's home. The caregiver is often a family member or friend. DSS's draft waiver renewals let a relative be the AFL caregiver unless they are a "legally liable relative." The PCA draft's default rule bars paying a legally responsible individual, typically including a spouse, for ordinary personal care except at the state's option, and doesn't show Connecticut's choice. Connecticut's older CHCPE regulation bars any relative, spouse included, so the two conflict. Whether a guardian or health care representative can be paid isn't stated; ask DSS or the intermediary agency.1,3,4

AFL is a service under CHCPE and the PCA Waiver, so the older adult must be eligible for one of them. Generally, the applicant must be over 65 or have a disability, need help with at least one activity of daily living, and meet the income requirements. AFL pay excludes room and board, which the two agree on if the older adult moves in with the caregiver. Separately, state-funded CHCPE clients pay a 9% copay. An intermediary agency authorized by the state oversees the services and gives caregivers training and support.1

DSS sets the stipend at one of four care levels based on the assessed complexity of care. Neither DSS nor the AFL program page publishes a stipend amount, so confirm the current figure for your loved one's level with DSS or the sponsor agency before you count on a number.1

Community First Choice (CFC)

Community First Choice (CFC) is, in DSS's words, "an optional State Plan service which will allow eligible individuals to access Personal Attendant Care (PCA) and other services and supports through self-direction," created by the Affordable Care Act. DSS's page doesn't itself say who may be hired or paid.2

The legislature's Office of Legislative Research (OLR) describes CFC as a 1915(k) Medicaid State Plan service for beneficiaries who need an institutional (for example, nursing home) level of care and can self-direct.5 OLR says participants may hire certain relatives and friends, while spouses and legal guardians are excluded from pay; an older OLR report also excludes legally liable relatives and conservators. These are research summaries, not DSS rules.5 The American Council on Aging says there is never a wait list, but DSS describes a proposal to move CFC participants to a waiver, with a proposed April 1, 2027 start. Ask DSS in writing whether your relative can be hired.2,5

Payroll for Connecticut's self-directed programs runs through a fiscal agent, and the agent is assigned by program rather than statewide. DSS's CFC page names no fiscal agent, and DSS re-bids the payroll contract periodically, so confirm the current vendor with DSS or your program before you enroll.2

For CHCPE, DSS explains what "at risk of nursing home placement" means: the applicant needs help with critical needs such as bathing, dressing, eating, taking medications, and toileting. DSS reviews each applicant's needs to decide whether they can stay at home with home care services. CHCPE once let participants self-direct their own caregivers; people in its Medicaid-funded category now self-direct personal care through CFC instead.1

For the full guide to paid pathways: How to Get Paid as a Family Caregiver in Connecticut.

How to Apply for Connecticut Caregiver Programs

The path into every Connecticut caregiver program starts the same way, with one phone call. Here is the order it usually follows.

If your loved one is currently in a nursing home or hospital and wants to come home, ask the Infoline about Money Follows the Person (MFP). MFP helps Medicaid-eligible people living in nursing homes, hospitals, and other qualified institutions move back into the community, to what the program calls a qualified residence: a home the participant or a family member owns or leases, an apartment, or a small group home with no more than four unrelated residents. Connecticut's flyer adds two conditions: your loved one should want to live in the community, and must be eligible for one of the community service packages.11

MFP is a federal demonstration program, with funding from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the State of Connecticut. It is a bridge, not a caregiver-pay program. It does not give money directly to the participant. The cost of their current nursing home care is the dollar limit for services in the community, but the actual budget is set by need, and no one automatically gets the limit. Services continue through MFP for 365 days after the move, and the ongoing programs each have their own gate: CHCPE starts at age 65, and the PCA Waiver serves only ages 18 to 64.11

Confirm the institutional-stay rule with DSS, in writing, before you count on it. Federal law sets the minimum at 60 consecutive days or more, a floor the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 cut from 90 days, effective January 26, 2021. Connecticut's own DSS flyer still says "at least three months," so at day 60 the state may say your loved one does not qualify yet.11

Respite Care Programs

Caring for someone around the clock is exhausting, and needing a break does not make you a worse caregiver. Connecticut funds several ways to get one, some through Medicaid and some free to any family.

Home-Care Services Through CHCPE

CHCPE's service list doesn't name respite as a separate service, but it does include adult day health, companion services, homemaker services, and home-delivered meals. Chore assistance is available only as part of a package of services. Ask the assigned care manager which of these fit your loved one's care plan.1

NFCSP Grants Through Connecticut's 5 Area Agencies on Aging

The National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP), funded by Title III-E of the Older Americans Act, flows through DSS to 5 regional Area Agencies on Aging. Connecticut also operates a Statewide Respite Care Program that supplements NFCSP. Services include in-home respite, adult day vouchers, caregiver training, and counseling, with no income test for respite services. Call the Infoline at 1-800-994-9422.6,7

For the full respite guide: Respite Care in Connecticut.

VA Caregiver Benefits in Connecticut

If the person you care for is a veteran, this is where the news gets better. A spouse has the hardest time with the state programs: DSS's draft waiver rules leave spouse pay for Adult Family Living unclear, DSS says family members are not eligible to be paid as a CHCPE personal care attendant except in very rare exceptions, and the legislature's research office says Community First Choice excludes spouses from pay.3,4,5 VA's PCAFC, by contrast, lets a spouse be the family caregiver.8

VA Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC)

The Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) pays a monthly stipend to the Primary Family Caregiver of an eligible veteran. VA has stated the stipend is a nontaxable benefit, and a spouse can be the caregiver.8

Veteran eligibility: VA lists four conditions, and the veteran must meet all of them: a VA disability rating (individual or combined) of 70% or higher; discharge from the U.S. military or a date of medical discharge; a need for at least 6 months of continuous, in-person personal care services; and enrollment in VA health care.8

Meeting those four is the first screen, not the decision. The binding test is 38 CFR 71.20(a), and VA assesses four more of its conditions during the application: participating is in the veteran's best interest; the care the family caregiver would give is not simultaneously and regularly provided by another person or entity; the veteran receives care at home, or will once VA designates a caregiver; and the veteran receives ongoing care from a primary care team, or will once VA designates a caregiver. The no-other-provider condition surprises families most, because a household already getting regular personal care through another program can fail PCAFC on that ground alone.8

The stipend is not a flat national figure: it starts from the federal Office of Personnel Management GS-4, Step 1 annual rate for the veteran's locality, divided by 12, and that monthly base is then multiplied by a factor.8

There is no single factor. 38 CFR 71.40(c)(4)(i) sets five rungs across two schedules, using three distinct factors, and which one applies depends first on whether the veteran is in the current program or is a legacy participant or legacy applicant:8

• Current program (the veteran meets 38 CFR 71.20(a)): 0.625, or 1.00 if VA determines the veteran is "unable to self-sustain in the community."8
• Legacy participant or legacy applicant (38 CFR 71.20(b) or (c), meaning a household carried over from the program as it stood before October 2020): the factor comes instead from the sum of the veteran's 2019 clinical ratings, at 1.00 for a sum of 21 or higher, 0.625 for 13 to 20, and 0.25 for 1 to 12. No self-sustain determination is required on this route, so a legacy Connecticut household rated 21 or higher reaches the full 1.00 on the rating sum alone.8
• A veteran who meets both the current and the legacy criteria is paid whichever of the two amounts is higher, and a legacy participant's stipend cannot fall below what the caregiver was eligible to receive the day before October 1, 2020, so long as the veteran still lives at the address VA has on record. The legacy schedule runs eight years from October 1, 2020 and lapses October 1, 2028.8

If you are not sure which schedule your household is on, ask your VA Caregiver Support Coordinator before you assume the lower number.8

For a Connecticut spouse, that can make the PCAFC stipend the clearest route to being paid for care. To confirm eligibility and start an application, call the VA Caregiver Support Line at 1-855-260-3274.8

VA Aid and Attendance Pension

Wartime veterans and surviving spouses who meet the functional criteria and have countable assets and income under the net-worth limit ($163,699 in 2026) may receive the Aid and Attendance pension. For 2026, the maximum for a single veteran with Aid and Attendance is $29,093 per year, and for a veteran with one dependent $34,488 per year; a surviving spouse with no dependents has a maximum of $18,697 per year.12

That maximum is a ceiling, not a flat award. VA pays the difference between the claimant's countable income and the maximum, so someone with other income receives less than the amount shown. Non-reimbursable medical expenses above 5% of the maximum can reduce countable income. Pension is paid monthly: under 38 CFR 3.273, VA subtracts countable income from the annual maximum and divides the remainder by 12. The pension is paid to the veteran or survivor, not to a caregiver.12,8

The Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs and town Veterans Service Officers help file both PCAFC and pension claims at no cost.

Taxes for Connecticut Caregivers

IRS Notice 2014-7

IRS Notice 2014-7 lets a caregiver exclude qualified Medicaid waiver pay from federal gross income as difficulty-of-care payments, whether or not the caregiver is related to the person receiving care. The pay has to come under a Section 1915(c) home and community-based services waiver, and the care has to be given in your own home, where the person you care for lives under their plan of care. If you keep a separate home where you regularly reside, the exclusion doesn't reach you.10

Read that boundary carefully before you count on it, because Connecticut's programs land on both sides of it. DSS identifies the PCA Waiver and CHCPE's waiver as 1915(c) waivers, so they fall inside the notice's frame. Community First Choice does not: DSS describes it as an optional Medicaid State Plan service created by the Affordable Care Act. Neither does the section 1915(i) portion of CHCPE, which is a State Plan authority rather than a waiver. For a program that isn't a 1915(c) waiver, the IRS says only that the treatment depends on the nature of the payments and the purpose and design of the program. That means CFC pay is not automatically tax-free, whatever you may have been told. Talk to a tax preparer familiar with the rules before filing.10 Connecticut's MyPlaceCT site describes the AFL stipend as non-taxable.1

Connecticut State Income Tax

Connecticut levies a graduated individual income tax. On the Department of Revenue Services schedule for the 2025 tax year, the marginal rates run from 2.00% on the lowest bracket to 6.99% on the highest. Connecticut adjusted gross income is your federal adjusted gross income plus any Connecticut modifications reported on Form CT-1040, Schedule 1. So caregiver pay counts for Connecticut to the extent it is in your federal adjusted gross income, and a payment excluded from federal gross income stays out unless a Connecticut modification adds it back. Confirm the current brackets with the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services.9

VA PCAFC Stipend

VA has stated that the PCAFC monthly stipend is a nontaxable benefit.8

Where to Get Help in Connecticut

Learn More

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.