If you want to be her paid caregiver, an agreement or contract should be written with the specifics of your care and her payment arrangements. It's best to hire an elder law attorney to create this for you. At this early point of your caregiver role, the best thing you can do is to become educated with dementia both from a caregiver view and the patient's. "The 36 Hour Day" and "Learning to Speak Alzhemer's" are 2 excellent primers on dementia.
The short answer is that IF your state/county has any options to pay family caregivers, it will not be for full-time and will be very low hourly rate. A smart option is to create a written employment contract with your parents so that they hire you and you are their employee. They and you must follow the employment tax laws for your state and county. The importance of this will come into play if they ever need to qualify for Medicaid in order to receive care -- and many many elders who worked hard and saved their money DO still need Medicaid, especially if they are living long or have great medical needs.
If your parents need 24-hr care, paying a private caregiver (even if it's you) will eventually be just as expensive as the cost of residing in a care facility. Please go into the caregiving arrangement with your eyes wide open, as burnout is very real and very damaging. Please read some of the many posts on this forum alone by real people who want to warn others of its effects on one's life. Loving adult children with the best of intentions. This is a great forum with fantastic participants giving wonderful, valuable advice. I hope you will heed whatever is written to you, and may you have peace in your heart about who ultimately provides care to your parents.
https://www.agingcare.com/articles/how-to-get-paid-for-being-a-caregiver-135476.htm
The short answer is that IF your state/county has any options to pay family caregivers, it will not be for full-time and will be very low hourly rate. A smart option is to create a written employment contract with your parents so that they hire you and you are their employee. They and you must follow the employment tax laws for your state and county. The importance of this will come into play if they ever need to qualify for Medicaid in order to receive care -- and many many elders who worked hard and saved their money DO still need Medicaid, especially if they are living long or have great medical needs.
If your parents need 24-hr care, paying a private caregiver (even if it's you) will eventually be just as expensive as the cost of residing in a care facility. Please go into the caregiving arrangement with your eyes wide open, as burnout is very real and very damaging. Please read some of the many posts on this forum alone by real people who want to warn others of its effects on one's life. Loving adult children with the best of intentions. This is a great forum with fantastic participants giving wonderful, valuable advice. I hope you will heed whatever is written to you, and may you have peace in your heart about who ultimately provides care to your parents.