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Who can be paid
Who Can Be Paid as a Relative IHSS Provider
Updated September 16, 2026. Reviewed September 16, 2026 against public CDSS, DHCS, Medicare.gov, VA, and CareScout 2025 California tables. County wages, hours, and wait times still change. Official .gov pages decide.
A clear map of adult children, other relatives, spouses, and parents of minors, with the enrollment and sub-program caveats CDSS publishes.
About 4 minutes to read. Based on CDSS and DHCS public program pages retrieved 2026-09-16. County offices apply these rules. Hourly rates, hour totals, and wait times are local and change.
Short answer
Adult children and most other relatives can be paid after ordinary IHSS provider enrollment. A spouse, or a parent of a child under 18, is generally unpaid under PCSP and can be paid under CFCO, IPO, or IHSS-Residual after enrollment. Friends, neighbors, and Public Authority providers are allowed too.
Who decides
The county IHSS office and Medi-Cal decide the sub-program, authorized hours, and whether the relative who enrolled can be paid.
What to do next
Identify the relationship (adult child, other relative, spouse, or parent of a minor), ask the county which sub-program applies if it is a spouse or parent-of-minor case, and start that person’s enrollment.
A map of who the program can pay
CDSS publishes one provider sentence and two important caveats. Providers may include family members, friends, neighbors, or Public Authority registry providers after enrollment. Adult children helping a parent are the common case of that sentence. The caveats are a spouse, and a parent of a child under 18. Those two relationships depend on the IHSS sub-program. This page is the map. The linked guides are the street-level directions.
Ordinary family path
Use this path for an adult child, a sibling, an adult grandchild, and most other family members hired to help an adult recipient. The recipient is the employer. The relative finishes orientation, SOC 426, SOC 846, and a background check where required. They must be authorized to work in the United States. They record authorized time with EVV when it applies. The State issues the check. Rates vary by county unions.
Get paid to care for a parent is the adult-child journey version of that path, including the parent’s Medi-Cal and assessment track.
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Questions people ask
- Is there a single yes-or-no for every relative?
- No. Adult children and most other relatives share one path. Spouse and parent-of-minor share a tighter path that depends on PCSP versus CFCO, IPO, or IHSS-Residual.
- Do all paid relatives complete the same forms?
- When the program can pay them, yes: orientation, SOC 426, SOC 846, and a DOJ background check where required, plus EVV setup. Payability is the extra test for spouse and parent-of-minor.
- Can a relative who is not authorized to work in the United States be paid?
- Providers must be authorized to work in the United States to enroll. That requirement is not waived because the helper is family.
Official sources for this guide
Related pages on California Home Help
Reviewed against CDSS, DHCS, Medicare.gov, and CareScout public pages. We do not quote IHSS wages. County IHSS offices and Medi-Cal decide eligibility, hours, and pay. For current county wage rates, use the official CDSS wage page. CDSS county IHSS wage rates.
Official program pages: CDSS: In-Home Supportive Services, CDSS: IHSS for children, County IHSS offices, CDSS: IHSS providers, CDSS: county IHSS wage rates, CDSS: provider orientation, CDSS: Electronic Visit Verification, CDSS: Electronic Services Portal, DHCS: Medi-Cal, Apply for Medi-Cal, BenefitsCal, CDSS: hearing requests, CDSS: forms catalog, CDSS: IHSS overtime and workweek, DDS: regional centers.