You're Already Their Caregiver. Let's Explore Your Options.
Some families ask whether a parent can be part of their child's formal care team. Whether that is possible depends on your circumstances, your child's care plan and program requirements.
The option
What This Option Means
Many parents of medically complex children are already doing skilled, exhausting, round-the-clock work at home. Some of those families ask whether a parent can be part of the formal care team rather than working alongside it unrecognised.
That question does not have a single answer. Whether it is possible for a particular family depends on that family's circumstances, the child's physician-ordered plan of care, and the requirements that apply to the program the child is served through.
WeLIVE Healthcare does not make that determination. We are a provider — we can talk through what your situation looks like, what would need to be true, and who decides. We cannot tell you in advance that it will be available to you.
Nothing on this page means a parent can become a paid caregiver. It means the question is worth asking, and that we will answer it honestly.
Why families ask
When Families Ask About It
Families come to this question for many reasons. These describe why families ask — not who qualifies.
You already give hands-on care
Feeding, airway care, medicines, positioning — many parents are doing hours of skilled work every day.
You stepped back from work
A parent left a job, or cut their hours, because their child needs someone at home.
Keeping care consistent
A family wants their child cared for by someone they know, without a long gap between caregivers.
Coming home from the hospital
A child is leaving the hospital or NICU, and the family is planning who will provide care at home.
A care plan is changing
A new tracheostomy, feeding route or diagnosis has changed what a child needs each day.
You want every option
Some families simply want to understand what is possible before they decide anything.
The role
What the Caregiver Role May Involve
If a family does explore this route, the care does not become less formal. A plan of care exists to keep a child safe, and any arrangement has to hold up against it.
What would be asked of your family
- Being candid about what care your child actually needs day to day, including the parts that are hardest to say out loud
- Working with your child's physician so the plan of care reflects their real needs
- Providing the documentation the process asks for, and keeping it current
- Following the same care standards, training and record-keeping expectations that apply to the rest of the care team
- Telling us when something changes — your child's condition, your household, your availability
What the care plan has to account for
- Whether the care your child needs is the kind of care a family member may be able to provide, or whether it calls for a licensed clinician
- How many hours of care your child's plan supports, and how those hours are structured across a week
- Whether a parent providing part of the care still leaves the child with the oversight and coverage their plan requires
- What happens on the days a parent is unwell, unavailable, or needs rest — coverage has to hold without them
- How the arrangement would be supervised, documented and reviewed over time
Your child’s physician is central to all of this. This page is general information, not medical or legal advice, and nothing here changes what their plan of care requires.
Training & support
You Would Not Be Doing This Alone
Where a parent does become part of a child’s care team, the care is held to the same standards as the rest of the team. The specifics depend on your child’s plan and the program’s requirements, and we explain them before anything begins.
- Clear guidance on the care tasks in your child's plan
- Documentation and record-keeping routines, explained step by step
- Someone on our team to ask when something is unclear
- Coordination with your child's physician when the plan changes
How WeLIVE helps
How We Help Your Family
It begins the same way every conversation with us begins — with your child. You do not need to know whether anything qualifies before you call.
We start with your child
Their needs, their plan of care and how your family is managing today — before any talk of options.
We explain the process
What would need to be true, who decides and what the steps are, in plain language.
We work with the physician
The plan of care is your child's physician's. We coordinate with them so care fits what is ordered.
We tell you the truth
If this is not a route open to your family, we say so — and talk through what support may fit instead.
How the process works
- 1
You reach out
Call us, or request a screening online. You do not need paperwork ready, and you do not need to know whether your child qualifies.
- 2
We talk with you
A member of our team talks through your child's needs, your Medicaid situation, where you are in Georgia, and whether your child currently has a provider.
- 3
Nurse intake
If it looks like we may be able to help, a nurse meets with you and your family to complete the intake documentation together.
- 4
Submission to Medicaid
The GAPP request is submitted for review. This is the point at which the decision moves to Georgia Medicaid.
- 5
The decision, then care
Georgia Medicaid reviews the request. If services are approved, we work with you to begin care at home.
Whether a parent caregiver arrangement is possible can only be understood once your child’s needs and plan of care are on the table. It is a conversation, not a form you fill in. Read how the GAPP process works.
Before you start
What This Depends On
The things that shape whether a parent caregiver arrangement may be possible. They are not a checklist, and meeting them is not approval.
It is not available to every family
This is not a standard benefit that a family can simply opt into. Some families find it is a possible route; others find it is not. The difference comes from their individual circumstances, not from how hard they ask.
The child's care plan comes first
What a child needs is established by their physician and their plan of care. Any conversation about who delivers that care follows from the plan — it does not shape it.
Program requirements apply
Requirements are set by the program a child is served through, not by WeLIVE. They can change, and they are the part of this we have no ability to waive or work around.
Nobody here approves it
If you are told by anyone that a parent caregiver arrangement is approved, guaranteed or already in place before the process has run, treat that as a reason for caution.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions parents ask us most often — answered without the promises we are not in a position to make.
Can I be paid to care for my own child?
We cannot tell you that. Whether a parent can be part of a child's formal care team depends on the family's circumstances, the child's care plan and the requirements of the program the child is served through. WeLIVE Healthcare does not make that determination, and we will not promise you an outcome we do not control.
Is this something every family can do?
No. Some families find it may be possible for them and others find it is not. It is not a standard option that a family can choose, and we would be misleading you to describe it as one.
Who decides whether it is possible?
Not WeLIVE. The decision follows from the child's physician-ordered plan of care and the requirements that apply to the program. Our role is to help you understand what is being asked and to be straight with you about where the process stands.
How much would a parent caregiver be paid, and for how many hours?
We do not publish pay rates or hours, because they are not ours to set and they depend on the individual situation. Be cautious of anyone who quotes you a figure before your child's needs have been reviewed.
What about taxes, employment status or benefits?
Those are real questions and they deserve real answers from the right people. We are a home health provider, not a tax or employment adviser, so we will not guess at them here. If a conversation reaches that stage, we will tell you plainly what we do and do not know.
What should I do first?
Start with a screening conversation about your child. It commits you to nothing, and it is the only honest way to find out whether this is worth exploring for your family.
Care That Keeps Your Family Together.
A screening request is not an application, and not a request for a parent caregiver arrangement. It is how we learn enough about your child to tell you honestly what may be possible.