Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: yes, through Community Care Program (CCP) In-Home Services (Illinois Department on Aging); Home Services Program (HSP) Personal Assistant (Illinois DHS). Most adult family members can be hired and paid to provide the care. A spouse can also be the paid caregiver.
How Illinois pays a family caregiver
| Program | Community Care Program (CCP) In-Home Services (Illinois Department on Aging); Home Services Program (HSP) Personal Assistant (Illinois DHS) |
|---|---|
| Can a family member be paid? | Yes. “IDoA Community Care Program: Any family member (including a spouse), a Power of Attorney, representative payee, legal guardian, friend or neighbor must meet qualifications, pass a background check, complete 24-hours of pre-service training, and be hired and supervised by an In-Home Services agency before serving as a paid caregiver.” |
| Can a spouse be paid? | Yes. “Any family member (including a spouse) … must meet qualifications, pass a background check, complete 24-hours of pre-service training, and be hired and supervised by an In-Home Services agency before serving as a paid caregiver.” |
Why the spouse question is different
Federal Medicaid rule treats a spouse (and a parent paying for a minor child) as a “legally responsible relative”, someone already assumed to owe the care for free, so paying them is barred by default. A state has to build an explicit exception into its waiver or state-plan option to pay a spouse at all; the rule for any other relative (an adult child, a sibling, a grandchild) is looser and usually allowed. That is why the two rows above can carry different answers on the same page.
The going rate
Not published by the state in the materials reviewed this session.
How it works
For the IDoA Community Care Program (age 60+), a Care Coordination Unit does an assessment; the chosen family member (including a spouse) passes a background check and 24 hours of pre-service training and is then employed and supervised through an approved In-Home Services agency. A separate DHS Home Services Program for younger disabled adults bars “legally responsible relatives” (spouse, or a parent/step-parent of a minor) from being the paid Individual Provider.
What this doesn’t answer
No published hourly or daily pay rate was found on the official pages reviewed. Illinois runs several different consumer-directed programs with different family/spouse rules, so the answer is program-specific rather than one statewide policy. This page follows the age-60+ CCP program, the one most relevant to CMG’s audience.
Sources
- Illinois Department on Aging: In-Home Care / Hiring a Family Member or Friend
- IDHS Home Services Program: Individual Provider Payment Policies (IL488-2252)
Read September 3, 2026.
Same question, other states: Indiana · Iowa.
Related: the private-pay caregiver-agreement rule · the household-employee tax rules once you’re being paid · what family caregiving actually costs unpaid.
General information drawn from each state’s own Medicaid agency and public program materials, not legal, tax or financial advice. Medicaid self-direction programs are administered state by state and change by budget cycle and waiver renewal; this page cannot see your own state’s current program status or your family’s eligibility. We are not a law firm, a benefits counselor, or a fiduciary, and this is not personalized advice. We sell nothing on this page and earn nothing from it.