Updated October 2026 · Written by the Freedom Adult Care team, Columbus, GA, serving Georgia families since 2003
If you’re caring for an aging or disabled family member in Georgia, you may be able to get paid for it, without giving up your role as their caregiver. This guide explains exactly how Georgia’s Structured Family Care (SFC) program works, what it pays, who qualifies, and how Freedom Adult Care helps families through the entire process.
How much does Georgia pay family caregivers?
Through Freedom Adult Care, you can get paid up to $600 a week to care for a loved one at home. Your loved one must qualify for Georgia Medicaid. Pay depends on eligibility, qualifications and experience.
We offer two programs, and they pay in different ways:
| Structured Family Care (SFC) | Family Hire | |
|---|---|---|
| How you’re paid | A set daily amount, paid weekly | By the hour, paid weekly |
| What sets the amount | Your loved one’s assessed level of care | The hours approved in their care plan, plus your qualifications and experience |
| Live together? | Required | Either way |
| Keep another job? | No | Yes |
| Taxes | Generally tax-free (IRS Notice 2014-7) | Usually taxable wages, unless you live in the home |
Nobody can tell you your exact pay until your loved one’s care is assessed and approved. Once it is, we’ll put your figure in writing before you commit to anything. Not sure which program fits? Read SFC or Family Hire: which one fits?
What Is Structured Family Care?
Structured Family Care (SFC) is a service offered under Georgia Medicaid’s CCSP (Community Care Services Program) and SOURCE waivers. It allows a family member who is already providing daily care to a loved one to be paid for that care through a Medicaid-credentialed provider like Freedom Adult Care, instead of an outside aide being brought into the home.
The goal of the program is simple: keep families together at home, supported by training and a paycheck, rather than moving a loved one into a nursing facility.
How Does Structured Family Care Pay Work?
As a Freedom Adult Care caregiver, you’re paid for the care you already give. Pay comes as a set daily amount, not an hourly wage, and lands in your account by direct deposit on a regular weekly schedule. You record the care tasks you complete each day. You’re a trained caregiver on our team, not a person filling out benefit paperwork.
Structured Family Care pays a set amount every day, and it’s generally tax-free. It doesn’t drop on a slow week, and it isn’t prorated against hours worked. The daily amount is set by your loved one’s assessed level of care, so a higher level of care means higher pay.
Why the pay is generally tax-free. Under the IRS “difficulty of care” exclusion (IRS Notice 2014-7), payments under Medicaid waiver programs to a family caregiver living in the same home as the person they care for are typically excluded from federal income tax. In practical terms, untaxed pay goes further than the same amount on a taxed paycheck. Confirm your own situation with a tax professional. Every household is different.
If another agency quotes you a bigger number, ask these two questions
Caregiver pay has gotten competitive in Georgia, and headline figures don’t always survive contact with the paperwork. Two questions sort it out fast, and you should ask us the same ones:
- “Is that number for Structured Family Care, or for Personal Support Services?” These are two different Georgia Medicaid programs that pay in completely different ways, and it’s easy for the two to get blurred together in one conversation. Here’s the difference between them.
- “Will you put my actual monthly amount in writing before I sign?” A number you’re told over the phone and a number on a document are not the same thing. Any agency willing to stand behind its figure will hand it to you in writing.
Freedom Adult Care will put your monthly amount in writing before you commit to anything: your loved one’s assessed level of care, your pay figure, and your pay schedule, on one page. Ask us for it; you shouldn’t have to.
Freedom Adult Care offers both. Our Family Hire program is our version of PSS: we hire a family member as the paid aide. We’ll tell you straight which one fits your family.
Check your eligibility or call our care team. The conversation takes about 10 to 15 minutes and costs nothing.
Who Qualifies for Structured Family Care?
Both the care recipient and the caregiver must meet Georgia Medicaid’s requirements.
Care Recipient Must:
- Live in Georgia
- Be enrolled in Medicaid or be Medicaid-eligible
- Be a participant in the CCSP or SOURCE waiver program
- Need help with activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, feeding, mobility, etc.)
- Require a nursing-home level of care, generally an assessed need of 5+ hours of personal support per day (about 35 hours/week)
- Live in the same household as the caregiver
Caregiver Must:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Be a family member, biological or by marriage (examples: adult child, sibling, daughter-in-law, grandchild)
- Live in the same household as the care recipient
- Pass a satisfactory background check (funded by the program)
- Not be the care recipient’s spouse or legal guardian. Spouses and legal guardians are not eligible to be paid caregivers under Georgia’s SFC program
- Generally not hold outside employment that conflicts with required caregiving hours
Don’t live together, or need to keep your job? You may still get paid to care for your family member through Freedom Adult Care’s Family Hire program. Ask us.
Ready to get paid to care for your loved one?
Is the Pay Really Tax-Free?
For most family caregivers, yes. The IRS difficulty-of-care exclusion (Notice 2014-7) allows Medicaid waiver payments to qualifying family caregivers to be excluded from gross income for federal tax purposes. Freedom Adult Care isn’t a tax advisory service, so we always recommend caregivers talk to a tax professional about how this applies to their specific household, but for the large majority of families in this program, the weekly pay is not subject to federal income tax.
Counties We Serve
Freedom Adult Care’s Structured Family Care program proudly serves Muscogee County and the surrounding region, including: Bibb, Chattahoochee, Clay, Dougherty, Harris, Houston, Lee, Macon, Marion, Meriwether, Muscogee, Quitman, Randolph, Schley, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, Troup, and Webster counties. If you live in one of these Georgia counties and care for an aging or disabled family member, you may qualify for Structured Family Care. Contact us for a free eligibility check.
Freedom Adult Care and FreedomCare Are Not the Same Company
Families call us all the time thinking they’ve reached FreedomCare, or the other way around. The names are close, so here’s the plain answer: Freedom Adult Care is a separate, family-owned company based right here in Columbus, Georgia. We are not FreedomCare, we’re not a branch or franchise of theirs, and we’re not affiliated with them in any way. FreedomCare is a multi-state company with a Georgia office near Atlanta; we’ve served Columbus-area families for over 23 years from our office on Macon Road.
Does it matter which provider you choose?
For the rules, no. Structured Family Care is a Georgia Medicaid service, so the requirements are the same no matter whose name is on the paperwork: your loved one needs CCSP or SOURCE waiver coverage and a nursing-home level of care, you have to live in the same home, and spouses and legal guardians can’t be the paid caregiver. Any honest provider in Georgia will tell you the same thing, and your loved one’s assessed level of care, not the company name on your paperwork, is what sets the daily rate.
What does change is who picks up the phone. With Freedom Adult Care you’re working with a local team in your own county, not a call center in another state, and the people who answer your questions in month one are the same people who answer them in year three. If you’re already enrolled somewhere else and it isn’t working, you can switch providers and keep your approved hours. Just see our Structured Family Care FAQs or call us and we’ll walk you through it.
How Do I Apply for Structured Family Care in Georgia?
Freedom Adult Care handles the entire process so families don’t have to navigate Georgia Medicaid alone.
- Free Eligibility Check: Call (706) 786-3041. We ask a few quick questions to confirm whether you and your loved one meet the program requirements. Takes about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Medicaid Verification & Application: If your loved one isn’t on Medicaid yet, we help with that application. If they’re already enrolled, we verify their CCSP/SOURCE waiver eligibility.
- Caregiver Background Check & Enrollment: The caregiver completes a background check (paid for by the program), then signs enrollment paperwork.
- Professional Training: We provide all required caregiver training. No healthcare experience needed.
- Start Caregiving & Get Paid Weekly: Once enrolled and trained, you begin recording your daily care tasks and receive your tax-free weekly pay.
Not on CCSP or SOURCE yet? Read how to get on the waiver in Columbus.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much will I get paid as a family caregiver in Georgia?
Through Freedom Adult Care, you can get paid up to $600 a week. Pay depends on eligibility, qualifications and experience. Structured Family Care pays a set daily amount based on your loved one’s assessed care level; Family Hire pays by the hour for approved hours. Call (706) 786-3041 for a free eligibility check.
Do I have to pay taxes on my SFC caregiver pay?
Most caregivers do not, thanks to the IRS difficulty-of-care exclusion (IRS Notice 2014-7) for Medicaid waiver payments. We recommend confirming with a tax professional for your specific situation.
What is the CCSP or SOURCE waiver?
These are Georgia Medicaid home and community-based services waivers that fund Structured Family Care. Your loved one must be enrolled in one of these waivers (or be eligible) to participate.
How many hours of care does my loved one need to qualify?
Generally, the care recipient must need a nursing-home level of care, meaning an assessed need of about 5 or more hours of personal support per day.
Does Georgia pay family caregivers directly?
No. The state approves your loved one’s care, and a Medicaid-credentialed provider like Freedom Adult Care enrolls and pays you. We’re reimbursed through the program and we pay you directly.
Can I get paid if I don’t live with my parent or I work full time?
Often, yes, through our Family Hire program. Read Can I get paid to care for my parent if I work full time?
Ready to Get Started?
Call Freedom Adult Care at (706) 786-3041 for your free eligibility check, or visit our Get Started page to begin the process today.
Ready to get started? We’re here to help.