Any advice on getting license or schooling to be my mom's caregiver and get paid?

Thanks for all the answers. I’m in Texas and have read up on most programs. Slight of the family contract I see no other options. Mom is not eligible for Medicaid for some time and due to stroke has to have help toileting, bathing, meals etc.

Does your mom have Long Term Care insurance that can pay a family member who is trained in some way? I have heard that some policies do allow that, although I am not sure how it works. Perhaps others might have information regarding this.

When my dad needed full-time care my sister and I checked into the details of his ltc policy just to see what it covered and there did not seem to be a way for us to be paid to care for him (and my sister is an RN). So we think of the policy as basically as insurance if something were to happen to one or both of us.

What state are you in? 

Abrackeen, if you do get licensed after schooling to be a caregiver, and if you sign up with a Caregiver Agency, the Agency would charge your Mom the standard rate for her care. Example, in my area the average rate is around $30/hour. Out of that $30/hour you may get half for your income. And the number of hours worked is set by State law.

Thus, it would be far better to help your Mom, without an Agency, and let her pay you the amount the caregiving Agency would be paying you. I do think the schooling would be excellent as so many of us dive into this adventure without any training at all.

Abrackeen, as Ahmijoy said, getting a caregiver license would allow you to work for an agency that could be hired to provide your mom's care. You may or may not be able to negotiate with the agency in advance to provide only your mother's care for a set number of hours per week -- it may be worth a shot.

An alternative to working for an agency is to be paid directly by your mom or other family members as Eyerishlass was. If your mom pays you, then make sure you have a signed and notarized personal services agreement (PCA) to ensure that her payments to you will not be considered as gifts made during a 5-year Medicaid look-back period that could be in your mom's future. (If your mom is eligible for veterans assistance, a PCA will also be useful for that.) Unless your mom's monthly retirement benefits are larger than most, a need for Medicaid could be in her future. Here's a link to an AgingCare.com article on Personal Care Agreements (PCA) including a link to a sample PCA: https://www.agingcare.com/articles/personal-care-agreements-compensate-family-caregivers-181562.htm

You haven't said what your mom's condition is or how many hours of care she needs, but if she needs 24-hour care now or in her likely future, that will be the equivalent of 4.5 full-time jobs (8,760 hours in a year / 1,940 avg. full-time hours = 4.56). My experience is that this becomes physically and mentally exhausting and the result is that nearly half of caregivers die before the person receiving care. If your mom does not yet need 24-hour care, then you providing her care via a PCA could be at least a temporary solution for her to help you with your finances while not not jeopardizing her future Medicaid eligibility.

If family caregivers are paid they are paid by the family member. I was 25 years old and my family had no idea what to do with my grandma who had Alzheimer's. I moved back to town and my family asked me to care for her and they paid me since I had to make a living.

There was no such arrangement when I cared for my mom. Or when I cared for my dad.

I’m not sure how this would work. If you went to school for a CNA or STNA, you would have to work for a home health care agency to get paid. The problem with that is you would be assigned to others for care as well, you wouldn’t be able to work for the agency and be Mom’s 24/7 caregiver. I have to think that if that course of action did work, there would be a bunch of us caregivers out there doing the same thing.

The truth is that most of us family caregivers don’t get paid. Some states provide a (very) small allowance, I think through Medicaid. I’ve heard the waiting list for those funds is very long. And yes, it’s not fair.