Governor Janet Mills recently announced a $5.1 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)-funded initiative to provide up to $2,000 grants for family caregivers providing care to a loved one at home. As part of the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan, Respite for ME is a two-year pilot program in collaboration between Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the five Area Agencies on Aging. Informal and unpaid caregivers may use the funds for respite care, counseling and training, legal and financial guidance, and assistive technology. Family caregivers can also access services to maintain their own health such as occupational and physical therapy.

Help for Family Caregivers Affected by the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the strains on an already overextended long-term care system. As a result of the lockdown, Maine state policymakers saw adult day centers close with some caregivers leaving the workforce to provide necessary care to their family members with self-care needs. Thus, the Maine legislature enacted S.P. 577 – L.D. 1733 to allocate state fiscal recovery funding for businesses and organizations across a multitude of sectors. A portion of this funding went to Respite for ME, a new initiative that dovetails with the larger Caring for ME campaign to address the long-term care workforce shortages, which includes scholarships and student loan relief to help individuals become direct care workers.

The Respite for ME initiative, which began in October 2022, provides grants to family caregivers and individuals of any income level providing care to individuals with a disability, Alzheimer’s Disease, or other related dementias (AD/ADRD) who can apply for these funds. Caregivers must meet at least one of the following four criteria:

Caregiver Eligibility Requirements

• Adult family member or other informal caregiver 18 years of age or older providing care to individuals 60 years of age or older.
• Adult family member or other informal caregiver 18 years of age or older providing care to individuals of any age living with dementia and related diseases, including Alzheimer’s.
• Relative, not including parent, 55 years of age or older providing care to children under 18 years of age.
• Relative, including parent, 55 years of age or older providing care to adults 18 to 59 years of age with disabilities.

Because this pilot is funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, family caregivers must demonstrate that they were negatively impacted and/or suffered economic hardship directly or indirectly associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes a job loss, reduction in household income, significant costs for care, increase costs of grocery delivery, or other financial hardships, such as a loss of supplemental income.

Evaluation and Report to the State Legislature

Maine’s DHHS will collect data from this pilot program to assess the best ways to meet family caregiver needs. This assessment instrument, called TCARE® (Tailored Caregiver Assessment and Referral), is an evidence-based, nationally validated tool already used by 32 other states to identify sources of caregiver burden and stress and to recommend individualized services to address them. To receive the grant funds, family caregivers must be assessed for their own needs with this assessment tool before, during, and after the grant. The state has contracted with the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine to lead and analyze the results.

We’re excited about using TCARE® to ask families what they really need and then to use the flexibility of the grants to cover person-centered, self-care services for the caregiver, such as exercise classes.
– James Moorhead, Aging Services Manager, Office of Aging and Disability Services, Maine Department of Health and Human Services

This respite grant program ends on September 30th, 2024 with a report to the Maine legislature due on January 15th, 2025. This report to the legislature will include the evaluation results of the pilot and provide information on the needs of family caregivers in Maine.

Acknowledgment

This project was made possible by support from the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and The John A. Hartford Foundation as part of a financial assistance award totaling $942,520 with 75 percentage funded by ACL/HHS and $312,845 amount and 25 percentage funded by non-government source(s). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government.