Paid Parent Caregiver Law

Former NH-ME LEND trainee Andrea Dole has been working on this caregiver law since she first testified in the Maine Legislature in April 2021. She was an important stakeholder in 2023 when lawmakers in Maine finally passed a law to pay parents with children with disabilities as their caregivers. But 2 years later, parents are still unable to receive any financial compensation.

One reason for this is that while Maine’s Medicaid program allows home health agencies to hire parents as caregivers to their child with a disability, it also requires agencies to be approved by Medicare (the federal insurance plan for older adults)—and most such agencies don’t support children, so they won’t hire parents for this role.

Sara Ratcliffe, executive director of the Home Care and Hospice Alliance of Maine states that, “the law, as it’s currently structured, is unworkable. The agencies that are allowed to hire parents as caregivers, primarily care for the 65 and older population or adults with disabilities.”

Bill Sczepanski, vice president of government relations for Team Select Home Care — which operates in 16 states, but not in Maine said, “parent caregiver laws can work well if implemented correctly.” He feels that Massachusetts and Colorado are good examples of states with successful programs.

In addition to these problems parents are facing a shortage of home healthcare nursing. Even if they qualify for nursing support to help care for the child it is difficult to find someone to hire. This means that parents are in the difficult situation of needing to provide care for their child themselves and therefore are unable to work and be financially stable.

Read Bangor Daily News full article, 2 years after Maine passed a paid parent caregiver law, experts say it’s inaccessible. 

Featured image of Andrea and James Dole courtesy of Bangor Daily News.