This is one of the hardest aspects of finding care for your parents. If caregiving on your own is impossible or just too overwhelming (In our case, caring for 2 people with different needs and conditions, was just too much for us to handle among everything else) then it’s time to hire in-home help IF you don’t send your parents to an assisted-living facility or other residential or nursing care home.

The type of help you will need will depend on what you think will be beneficial to you and your parents. It’s probably very similar to hiring a nanny for your children. You don’t want to pick just anyone off the street. You want to be able to choose someone that you can entrust your parents’ care. Seeing and hearing about horror stories on the news can make you paranoid about trusting people.However, there are good people out there and it’s just a matter of how to go about getting them!

What are the Options?
Probably the easiest but most expensive way is to hire a helper from a home health agency. You can find them in eldercare directories and also the Yellow Pages or other local phone directory. However, keep in mind that agencies will charge anywhere from $13.00-25.00 or more per hr and extra for special needs and/or 24 hour care which can run about $265/day more or less. If your parent needs 24 hour care, even worse, both parents need 24 hour care, the costs can skyrocket to upwards around $5000-6000 +/ month not including your daily living expenses and other costs such as mortgage or rent. This is the reason why many people end up sending their parents to outside facilities or carrying the burden on their own.

If however, you can afford this, more power to you!

Most others however, like us, will look to hiring privately.If you decide to hire in-home help for your loved one(s), you’ll probably want to figure out what exactly you want the caregiver to do. Typical duties for an in-home caregiver are usually custodial in nature, that is, assistance with daily living. Your parent may need help with bathing, dressing and feeding. The caregiver may also do some kind of light housekeeping and home maintenance tasks to assist your loved one. You may want to draw up some kind of formal contract explaining what will be covered: any benefits, hours of duty, employer-employee relationship, etc.

You also may want to decide how long you’ll want in-home help. Will this only be temporary? Long term? A few hours a week? or 24 hour care? Depending on your budget and needs, you may only be able to afford someone temporarily or as a back up to you if you are taking full responsibility for your loved one’s care.

How to Find Help
One of the best ways to find help obviously is through networking with people you already know. Sometimes you may get a personal recommendation from a relative or friend, your church or synagogue, senior centers, health facilities, etc. (We found our caregiver through a board-and-care we had our parents at last year. She was a former employee there and she has been a God-send to us).

You can also look at search agencies who will help locate a caregiver for you based on your criteria. Unlike a home health agency, search agencies act more like employment agencies. They find and locate a caregiver for you based on your criteria. You then interview the prospective applicants and you and the chosen employee will negotiate salary. The search agency only gets the referral fee if the caregiver is placed in your home.

If you can’t find help with any of the suggestions listed above, your last resort is to place a classified ad. You can post on your local newspaper or post help-wanted cards at grocery stores, senior centers, or you can even post an ad on free online classifieds like Craigslist or join a membership website such as Respite Match Respite Match is a comprehensive classified ad service geared towards both the client and also healthcare professionals looking for work. It provides tools such as background checks, as well as offering a free profile search for visitors to the site.

You don’t have to personally interview every single person who applies for the job. You can choose to have someone else interview them, or interview them over the phone, whatever your preference may be. As with any job, you should always give them an honest description of what the job is going to entail. The level of experience will vary, and it is up to you to decide how much experience you want the caregiver to have. Most importantly, in my opinion, is the caregiver’s character. It doesn’t matter how much experience they have, if they are not compassionate, patient, trustworthy and dependable. Finally, it’s always wise as with any other professional you hire, to call the applicant’s references.

I would suggest checking theIRSwebsite to see the latest rules for employee classification.

Hiring outside help is tough. You may not be happy with the first 1, 2 or even 3 you may hire. But once you find what you are looking for, you may develop a great relationship with that person, both as a working relationship and a personal one. Good Luck!
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