Kupuna Care Hawaii: Can It Pay a Family Caregiver? (2026)

Kupuna Care Hawaii sends its funds to a service provider or a financial management service provider, not directly to family caregivers. Kupuna Care covers services in Hawaii such as personal care, homemaker help and adult day care for people 60 and older.1,2 If your parent wants to hire you, Hawaii's small Community Living Program lets the older adult hire their own care workers, who may include family or friends.3

In This Guide

• What Kupuna Care Hawaii Does
• Who Qualifies for Kupuna Care in Hawaii?
• Can Kupuna Care Pay a Family Caregiver?
• How the Community Living Program Works
• How to Apply for Kupuna Care or CLP
• Frequently Asked Questions

What Kupuna Care Hawaii Does

Kupuna Care is run by the Hawaii Executive Office on Aging (EOA) under Hawaii Revised Statutes §349-17, and delivered through each county's Area Agency on Aging.1 Kupuna Care's eight core services in Hawaii are adult day care, transportation, case management, attendant care, chore, homemaker, personal care, and home-delivered meals.2

Hawaii's Kupuna Care law offers two ways to get those services: traditional delivery by a contracted provider, or participant-directed services, where the person receiving care controls their own budget. Either way, Kupuna Care funds are awarded subject to available funding.1

Who Qualifies for Kupuna Care in Hawaii?

To qualify for Hawaii's Kupuna Care, the person you care for must be 60 or older, a U.S. citizen or qualified alien, and have a cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's disease or a disability. Kupuna Care applicants also must not live in an institution or be enrolled in a comparable home- and community-based program, and must have trouble with two or more activities of daily living, such as bathing or dressing, or instrumental activities, such as preparing meals or managing medication.2,3 If you already help your parent bathe, dress, cook or keep track of pills, tell the assessor exactly what you do each day, because those are the needs Kupuna Care looks at.

Caregivers can qualify for Kupuna Care help too, including people juggling a job and a parent's care. Hawaii's Kupuna Care law counts a care recipient, a caregiver, or an "employed caregiver," meaning someone who provides care and works at least twenty hours per week, including self-employment.1

Can Kupuna Care Pay a Family Caregiver?

Not directly. Hawaii's Kupuna Care law defines a "caregiver" as a spouse, adult child, other relative, partner, or friend who gives unpaid help, so a helping relative counts as an unpaid caregiver the program can support; the table below shows where the funds go.1 That can feel like a door closing when you're already doing the work. But Hawaii has two other routes that can put a relative on the payroll.

The Kupuna Care rows follow Hawaii Revised Statutes §349-16 and §349-17, and the CLP row follows EOA's reports to the Legislature.1,3 Under QUEST Integration, Hawaii may pay a family caregiver for personal assistance in extraordinary circumstances, such as when other qualified caregivers can't be found or kept and the family member must stay home to keep the person safe and out of an institution, for no more than 40 hours in a seven-day period.5 Our guide to getting paid as a family caregiver in Hawaii walks through that Medicaid route.

If you're a spouse or a legal guardian, ask the ADRC how the Kupuna Care and CLP rules apply to you, or your parent's QUEST health plan for the Medicaid route, before you count on a paycheck.

How the Community Living Program Works

The Community Living Program is a participant-directed program that EOA manages directly. EOA's state fiscal year 2024 report says CLP has the same eligibility requirements as Kupuna Care, the list above, and its 2025 report calls them similar. In CLP, older adults act as their own case managers, hire and direct their own care workers, manage a monthly budget, and complete the paperwork.3

CLP is small. Hawaii's Executive Office on Aging reported 23 Community Living Program participants statewide in state fiscal year 2025, up 21% from 19, and all the new enrollments came from the neighbor islands. For state fiscal year 2024, EOA reported that limited provider capacity kept it from taking CLP referrals from the City and County of Honolulu, and that an existing provider had since expanded its staffing and was able to accept CLP referrals.3 So if you're on Oahu, ask early whether CLP has room.

How to Apply for Kupuna Care or CLP

Kupuna Care uses the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) holistic assessment to decide initial eligibility, and the ADRC is operated by the county Area Agencies on Aging.3

Learn More

Find personalized help finding out whether your parent qualifies for Kupuna Care at brevy.com.

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.