Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

Childhood Cancer Lantern
Search Saved

Montana program

A licensed parent paid to care for their own child

A licensed family caregiver can earn wages for approved clinical care at home (Pediatric Complex Care Assistant).

What it is

A licensed family caregiver can earn wages for approved clinical care at home (Pediatric Complex Care Assistant).

Some families provide substantial clinical care at home. This program can pay a licensed caregiver through an agency. Ordinary parenting does not qualify as a paid service.

Eligibility rules
  • Your child must be under 21 with Montana Medicaid.
  • Care must follow a physician-ordered plan.
  • The caregiver must be licensed and employed by the service agency.
What you get
  • Wages for approved clinical care through an employing agency.
What it covers
  • The agency requests approval for clinical services in the care plan.
  • This is a Pediatric Complex Care Assistant license, not a requirement that the parent become a registered nurse. A physician trains the caregiver for the ordered tasks, and an approved agency employs and supervises the licensed caregiver. The agency must have an available job and obtain approval for your child's care; Medicaid's payment to the agency is not the parent's wage. Your social worker can help identify an agency and ask about training, licensing costs, pay and available work before you make plans. Big Sky Waiver payment for extraordinary care is a separate route.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the discharge planner which local agencies offer Pediatric Complex Care Assistant services.
  2. Bring the care plan, Medicaid number and your license or questions about training.

The state, through the agency’s prior-authorization request · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • The agency's request for your child's care is answered within seven days, or 72 hours when urgent. (same clock is on home_nursing; keep it once)
Good to know

This is an agency job with licensing requirements. It is not an automatic parent cash payment.

Other details
  • The manual took effect September 1, 2025.
  • Big Sky Waiver separately allows qualified parents to provide approved extraordinary care. The same person cannot be both the authorized representative and paid for those waiver services.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could I qualify to be paid for our child’s clinical care? What training and work responsibilities would it add, and could you help us explore an agency if workable?”

Why I’m asking: I want to understand whether caregiving could become paid work and what requirements I would need to meet.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Ask about it before discharge and talk to a provider agency about the licence.

Your social worker

The discharge planner names the agencies and gets the physician order written.

The care team

Writes the plan of care the programme requires.

Who decides
The state, on the agency’s prior-authorisation request.
Ask your social worker
“I have stopped work to do my child’s care. Can we look at the pediatric complex care programme, and which agency near us employs those caregivers?”

How to apply

First step: Ask the discharge planner about the pediatric complex care programme before you go home.

  1. Ask the discharge planner about the pediatric complex care programme by name before you go home.
  2. Ask which agencies near you employ these caregivers and what licence is needed.
  3. Ask the agency to date the prior-authorisation request: the decision is due in seven calendar days.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Ask the discharge planner which provider agencies run the programme in your area.

What to gather

  • The physician-ordered plan of care
  • Your own licence or the steps to get one
  • The Medicaid number

How long: The authorisation decision is due within seven calendar days once the agency asks.

What a yes looks like

An authorisation and a job with the provider agency, doing your child’s care.

What a no looks like, and the next move

No licensed caregiver available, or no clinical care ordered. Ask about nursing hours instead.

Watch out

  • The caregiver has to be licensed and employed by an agency; it is a wage, not a cash benefit.
  • Ordinary parenting is not a paid service, so the order has to name the clinical care.

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

A licensed family caregiver is paid through an agency to care for a child under 21, with an authorisation decision within seven calendar days.

  • $7 — Calendar days for the authorisation decision
  • $21 — Age ceiling for the programme

Covers: Paid clinical care at home by a licensed family caregiver · Employment through a service-provider agency

What it costs the family: None.

The eligibility facts, as published

Age
under 21
Coverage
Montana Medicaid
Clinical
a physician-ordered plan of care
Caregiver
a licensed caregiver employed by the service-provider agency

The trap: The caregiver has to be licensed and employed by a provider agency; this is not a cash payment to a parent. Ordinary parenting is not a paid service under Montana policy.

Where I read this

← Back to your options