Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: yes, through Personal Care Attendant (PCA) Program (includes the Adult Family Living service). Most adult family members can be hired and paid to provide the care. A spouse cannot be the paid caregiver; the federal rule against paying a “legally responsible relative” still applies here.
How Connecticut pays a family caregiver
| Program | Personal Care Attendant (PCA) Program (includes the Adult Family Living service) |
|---|---|
| Can a family member be paid? | Yes. “The PCA is not a licensed, professional caregiver and can be anyone who meets the program requirements… The primary caregiver may be a relative of the client as long as they are not a legally liable relative.” |
| Can a spouse be paid? | No. “No. The state does not make payment to legally responsible individuals for furnishing personal care or similar services.” |
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
Referrals go through the PCA Program’s access agency; there is a capped number of slots so applicants are placed on a wait list, and once a slot opens a care manager assesses needs and helps set up the participant as the employer of their chosen attendant.
What this doesn’t answer
No published hourly PCA wage rate was found on an official CT source this session. Current PCA-program wait-list length was not published. The CMS waiver filing used for the legally-responsible-individual finding is labeled a “Draft” renewal (April 2024) rather than a final approved document, though it is the state’s own official filing.
Sources
- CT DSS: The Personal Care Attendant Program (brochure)
- CT DSS: Draft PCA Waiver 1915(c) renewal application, April 2024
Read September 3, 2026.
Same question, other states: Delaware · Florida.
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.