How to Apply to Be a Paid Family Caregiver in Washington

To become a paid family caregiver in Washington, your relative applies for Medicaid-funded long-term care through Apple Health, and you enroll as an Individual Provider (IP) through Consumer Direct Care Washington (CDWA). The two applications run in parallel. Once both clear, you start logging hours and getting paid. IP wages begin at roughly $22.63 per hour in January 2026 and rise with experience.

Who Can Be Paid as a Family Caregiver

You must be at least 18, authorized to work in the United States, and able to pass a fingerprint-based criminal background check. DSHS covers the cost of the background check for long-term care workers.¹

One relationship is excluded: spouses cannot be hired as paid caregivers under Washington’s Medicaid personal care programs. Adult children, parents of adult children, siblings, and other relatives are eligible. An adult child caring for an aging parent is the most common arrangement.²

Whether Your Family Member Qualifies

Nothing else matters if the person you want to care for doesn’t qualify for Medicaid long-term care. Washington looks at two things: money and functional need.

Financial Eligibility

For 2026, a single applicant’s countable monthly income cannot exceed $2,982, the state’s Special Income Level.³ The countable resource limit for a single person is $2,000.⁴ Not everything counts. The family home, one vehicle, and certain personal belongings are typically excluded.

Functional Eligibility

Your relative also has to need a nursing-facility level of care. In practical terms, that means significant help with at least two activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, or getting around.⁵ A social services worker determines this during an in-home assessment that also looks at cognitive function, behavioral needs, and safety in the home.

People who qualify are usually served through the Community Options Program Entry System (COPES), which pays for personal care in a person’s own home, an adult family home, or an assisted living facility.⁵ An alternative, New Freedom, lets the participant manage a self-directed budget of services and goods.⁶

Applying for Long-Term Care Coverage

Your family member applies. They can do it three ways:

Online at WashingtonConnection.org if the applicant is 65 or older, blind, disabled, or on Medicare.
By mail or fax using HCA form 18-005, sent to Home and Community Services, PO Box 45826, Olympia, WA 98504-5826, or fax 1-855-635-8305.
In person at a local Home and Community Services (HCS) office, found through the DSHS Office Locator.

After the application arrives, HCS schedules the functional assessment. A social services worker visits the home, evaluates need, and determines how many personal care hours will be authorized each month.⁷ Once financial and functional eligibility are confirmed, DSHS builds a personalized care plan, and your family member can name you as their preferred Individual Provider.

Enrolling as an Individual Provider Through CDWA

CDWA is the Consumer Directed Employer for Washington. Your family member directs your daily work, but CDWA handles payroll, taxes, and benefits. You don’t have to wait for the care plan to be finalized; start the CDWA application as soon as the functional assessment is underway.

Apply online at consumerdirectwa.com/careers. You’ll need the full name and ProviderOne ID of the person you plan to care for.
Submit the state background check through the DSHS system at fortress.wa.gov/dshs/bcs, then enter the confirmation code back on the CDWA portal.
Schedule fingerprinting after CDWA emails you. The appointment must be scheduled before you start providing care, though it doesn’t have to be completed by that date.
Wait for the case manager to confirm that the client wants to work with you.
Complete hiring paperwork in Workday. Section 2 of the I-9 must be filled out by the client or their authorized representative, not by you.
Finish the five-hour Orientation and Safety training online before providing any paid care.
Receive your “Okay to Provide Care” date from CDWA.
Log into DirectMyCare, complete the onboarding questions, and submit timesheets for payment.

The full enrollment process usually takes a few weeks, depending on how quickly the background check and fingerprinting move.

Training You Have to Complete

Most paid family caregivers complete 35 hours of training total within 120 days of hire: 5 hours of Orientation and Safety before starting, and 30 hours of basic training after.²

If you plan to work as a standard Home Care Aide rather than a family provider, the basic training requirement jumps to 70 hours, and you must pass a state exam to earn Home Care Aide (HCA) certification.⁸ Under an emergency rule in effect through December 31, 2027, the certification deadline is 365 days from hire. When that rule expires, the deadline reverts to 200 days.⁹ Certified aides then complete 12 hours of continuing education each year.¹⁰

What You’ll Earn and How Many Hours

IP wages come from a collective bargaining agreement between CDWA and SEIU 775. For providers with fewer than 2,000 career credit hours, the rate is $22.63 per hour in January 2026 and $23.54 per hour in July 2026. Rates climb with experience, reaching up to $27.28 per hour by mid-2026 for providers with over 40,000 career hours. Washington’s 2026 minimum wage is $17.13 per hour, so even entry-level IP pay sits well above the state floor.¹¹

Your monthly hours are capped by the care plan. The state authorizes a specific number of personal care hours based on the functional assessment, and it varies widely from person to person. You cannot bill for more hours than the plan authorizes.

The Tax Rule That Can Eliminate Your Federal Income Tax

Under IRS Notice 2014-7, Medicaid waiver payments to a caregiver can be excluded from federal gross income, but only if the care recipient lives in the caregiver’s home.¹² The IRS defines “the provider’s home” as the place where you reside and regularly perform the routines of your private life, including shared meals and holidays. If your parent moves in with you, or you move into your parent’s home and it becomes your primary residence, the exclusion applies. If you drive to your parent’s home each day but keep your own separate household, it does not.

A caregiver earning $25,000 a year who qualifies owes zero federal income tax on those payments. The same caregiver working from a separate residence owes tax on every dollar.

Effect on SSI and SNAP

Caregiving pay can reduce or eliminate means-tested benefits, so run the numbers before you start.

For SSI, earning more than $1,690 per month in 2026 is considered substantial gainful activity for non-blind individuals, which can affect disability status itself.¹³ Below that threshold, SSI still reduces your monthly payment by roughly one dollar for every two dollars you earn after the first $65 of monthly earnings is excluded. Even when Medicaid waiver payments qualify for the difficulty-of-care exclusion under Notice 2014-7, the Social Security Administration may still count them for SSI purposes. The interaction between these two rules is worth checking carefully before you begin work.

For SNAP, caregiving pay counts as earned income, but SNAP allows a 20-percent deduction from all earned income and a dependent care deduction if you have work-related childcare expenses.¹⁴

1
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. Background Checks
2
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. Becoming a Paid Caregiver
3
Washington State Health Care Authority. General Eligibility for Long-Term Care
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Washington State Health Care Authority. Washington Apple Health Income and Resource Standards
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Washington Law Help. COPES Program
6
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. What Is New Freedom and Who Is Eligible
7
Washington State Health Care Authority. Applications for LTSS
8
Consumer Direct Care Network Washington. Training, Continuing Education, and Qualifications FAQs
9
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. DOH Emergency Rule Notice Certification Timelines
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Washington State Department of Health. Home Care Aide – Continuing Education
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Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. Minimum Wage
12
Internal Revenue Service. Certain Medicaid Waiver Payments May Be Excludable From Income
13
Social Security Administration. What’s New in 2026
14
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Eligibility