Program
Adult foster care (living in a small private home)
A lower-cost alternative to a nursing home where a few older adults live in a licensed private home.
What it can pay for
- personal care
- caregiver pay
- Official name
- Adult Foster Care / Adult Family Homes: The Smaller-Home Alternative to Assisted Living
- Where
- Nationwide
- Status
- Program running
- About the amount
- No published 'benefit amount' — states set provider rates directly (Oregon publishes rate schedules by service level), and the family never sees a dollar figure. In Washington, the resident keeps a $108.74/month personal-needs allowance and pays the rest toward costs.
- Housing rules
- Not about the senior's own home — it's a licensed small private home (or, in Massachusetts's MassHealth AFC program, the caregiver's home shared with the senior).
- How long it takes
- No published timeline.
- How to apply
- Search the state's licensed long-term-care settings directory, or call the AAA/ADRC, and ask specifically whether the state's adult foster/family care program can pay a family member as the caregiver or only licenses stranger-run homes.
- Does not pay for
- Same money split as assisted living: Medicaid pays the care, the resident pays room and board from their own income. Private pay is also allowed.
- Official source
- dshs.wa.gov
- Last checked
- September 29, 2026