How to become a paid caregiver for your child in Georgia, step by step

In Georgia, a parent becomes a paid caregiver for their child through GAPP’s Family Caregiver Option. Your child needs full Georgia Medicaid and approved personal support hours, you must be a parent or other legally responsible adult family member who lives with your child, and a GAPP agency hires you as an employee. You are paid for the approved personal support hours you provide, never for skilled nursing.

Whether a parent can be paid at all is answered in Can a parent be paid to care for their child in Georgia?. This page is the next step: how it actually happens, from the first call to your first paid shift.

The steps

1. Check the basics. Your child is under 21 and has full Georgia Medicaid; PeachCare for Kids is not eligible. You are your child’s parent or other legally responsible adult family member, and you live with your child. Foster parents are not eligible (GAPP manual §604.2, §604.3). If your child is 18 or older, ask the agency how the legally responsible requirement applies to your family.
2. Your child needs personal support. The Family Caregiver Option pays only for approved personal support: hands-on help with feeding, bathing, dressing, personal hygiene, preparing meals, moving and walking, and light housekeeping around your child’s space (§604.2). Approval depends on medically necessary care, judged on your child’s overall condition, equipment and the level and frequency of care they need, not on a diagnosis (§702.1.1).
3. Choose a GAPP agency. You apply through a GAPP-approved agency, not the state. Ask early whether it hires family caregivers and how long its hiring takes. Our guide to choosing a GAPP provider has more questions.
4. Your child’s doctor completes the orders. The physician’s orders and a statement of medical necessity, backed by recent office visit notes, describe the daily care your child needs. Our step-by-step guide to applying covers the paperwork.
5. The request is reviewed. The agency submits it to Alliant Health Solutions, which has 30 days to review a complete request (§703.2.5). An approval sets a monthly maximum of personal support hours for up to six months, and is then renewed (§819.4, §804.2).
6. The agency hires you. You are hired as an employee of the agency like any other caregiver, including fingerprinting and a background check (§604.2). The agency sends the Department of Community Health your name, age, relationship to your child, address, background check, fingerprinting and a valid CPR card (§907).
7. You are trained. Before you provide care, you complete training in CPR and basic first aid, emergency procedures, assistance with medications, and the specialized procedures your child needs (§908.1). The agency trains family caregivers as necessary and keeps the records (§907).
8. You start, and the agency supervises. You record the personal support you give on a care task list each day, signed weekly or every two weeks (§914), and a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse supervises your care every two weeks (§919).

What the agency will ask you for

• Your child’s Medicaid number, or where the Medicaid or Katie Beckett application stands.
• Documentation of your relationship to your child, and your address (§604.3).
• Consent to fingerprinting and a background check.
• A valid CPR card, or a plan to get one through the agency’s training.
• Your child’s doctor, who will complete the physician’s orders.
• When you can provide care, so the approved hours fit your family’s week.

How you are paid

You are paid as an employee of the agency, for the approved personal support hours you actually provide and record. The agency sets your hourly rate, so ask each agency what it pays, how often it pays, and how your hours are recorded. You are not paid for:

• Skilled nursing. A licensed nurse provides it. The Family Caregiver Option is for personal support only (§604.2).
• Behavioral support aide services. The Family Caregiver Option does not cover them (§604.3).
• Hours beyond the approval, or care while your child is in the hospital, at school or outside Georgia (§703.2.3).
• Supervision on its own. Keeping your child safe is not on the manual’s list of personal support tasks.

Two children at home

If two children in the same household are both approved for personal support, the same family caregiver can provide it to both, with hours assigned and documented for each child (§914).

Keeping it going

Renewals are due 30 days before the approval ends, and care in a gap caused by a late renewal is not paid (§817). If your child’s needs change, the agency submits a change request within five days (§827). The federal approval that lets Georgia pay parents this way was granted on November 15, 2024, and runs through December 31, 2029.

ARZN supports families through our Village Care Program. If you think it could fit, tell us about your child and we will give you a straight answer either way.

Common questions

How do I become a paid caregiver for my child in Georgia?

Through GAPP's Family Caregiver Option. Your child needs full Georgia Medicaid and approved personal support hours, you must be a parent or other legally responsible adult family member who lives with the child, and a GAPP agency hires you as an employee, with fingerprinting, a background check, a valid CPR card and training.

What training do I need to be paid to care for my child?

Before you provide care, the agency trains you in CPR and basic first aid, emergency procedures, assistance with medications, and the specialized procedures your child's care needs. You must keep a valid CPR card. The agency trains family caregivers as necessary and keeps the records.

How much will I be paid to care for my child?

You are paid as an employee of the GAPP agency for the approved personal support hours you provide, at a rate the agency sets. Ask each agency what it pays, how often, and how your hours are recorded.

Can I be paid to care for two of my children?

Yes, if both children are approved for personal support. Children in the same household can receive shared personal support from the same family caregiver, with hours assigned and documented for each child.

Sources

1. Georgia Department of Community Health, Part II Policies and Procedures for Georgia Pediatric Program (GAPP) In-Home Nursing, July 1, 2025 edition, published on GAMMIS under Provider Manuals.
2. Georgia Department of Community Health, Georgia Pediatric Program (GAPP) provider presentation, June 2023, published on the Georgia Medicaid Management Information System portal.
3. Georgia Medicaid, Waiver Programs.
4. Georgia Department of Community Health, Community Based Services.
5. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, approval of Georgia’s amendment to pay legally responsible individuals for personal care services to GAPP members, November 15, 2024.

Please read. This article is general information about a public program, not medical, legal or financial advice, and it is not a decision about your child. Program rules change. Confirm anything that matters with the Georgia Department of Community Health or with a GAPP participating agency before you rely on it.