IHSS Provider Requirements: Can a Family Member Be a Provider?

Previously, a parent could be paid as their child’s IHSS provider only if the parent was prevented from working full-time (40 hours per week) due to the child’s extraordinary needs, and there was not another suitable provider available with a legal obligation to care for the child.

Effective February 20, 2024, the state has repealed all work limitations and third-party provider limitations for minors receiving IHSS. This means that while some restrictions still apply based on immigration status and background checks, the rules for who can provide IHSS services are now the same for minor and adult recipients.

Parent providers, like all providers, must be eligible to work in the United States and will be required to complete background checks and fingerprinting (there is a LiveScan fee for this requirement) as well as an orientation session.

In this clip, Undivided's Public Benefits Specialist Lisa Concoff Kronbeck explains the most important changes to IHSS effective February 2024.

Please see All County Letter 23-106 for more information on the recent changes.

Note: Parent-provider income is tax-exempt per IRS Notice 2014-7. Parent providers should fill out the live-in provider certification form to notify the state that they should not issue a W-2 or withhold payroll taxes. Parents should speak with their tax advisor regarding how best to report IHSS income as non-taxable income on their tax return.

The live-in provider form can be found here. The certification may also be completed online in the IHSS electronic timesheet portal, but we suggest you complete and submit this form with the rest of your application paperwork to avoid any confusion.

On a related note, a parent-provider’s IHSS income cannot be deemed to the child for purposes of income-based eligibility assessment for the child, such as for SSI or for Regional Center co-pay assistance.

Sometimes the county will ask a parent to designate a different person to sign timesheets if the parent will serve as the IHSS provider. According to All County Letter 23-77, the parent of a minor child is not required to fill out an authorized representative form in order to sign timesheets, nor must they select a non-provider adult to sign them. However, the case worker may require you to fill out a new form, SOC 839A, to designate yourself as the timesheet signer. As your child’s legal representative, you are allowed to be both the provider and the signatory when you fill out this form. If you have been your child’s provider for several years, you likely already signed an equivalent form on the old version of the SOC 839 (appointment of authorized representative).

If both of a child's parents want to become IHSS providers, they need to each fill out the forms and make sure they together do not exceed the total authorized hours. You can find more details about the process in our step-by-step guide for becoming an IHSS parent provider.

If you are ineligible to be a parent provider, you must hire someone to perform the authorized services.

You may have a family member or family friend become authorized to provide IHSS services. As with parent providers, third-party providers must be eligible to work in the United States, and will be required to complete background checks, fingerprinting and orientation.

If you need assistance locating a provider, contact your county’s public authority. In Los Angeles County, this is the Personal Assistance Services Council (PASC). PASC operates a Provider Registry within LA County and will provide you with referrals to providers. Contact PASC at (877) 565-4477 or visit their website. Another resource to find a provider is IHSS Connect, which lets you access a database for a small subscription fee.

Although the parental work restrictions have been lifted, the rules regarding parent responsibility for children receiving IHSS remain unchanged. This means that IHSS hours for children are still measured against the care a parent would be expected to provide to a typically developing child of the same age, and any service that was considered parental responsibility under the previous rules will remain parental responsibility even if a third party is providing authorized IHSS hours.

Example: A child is four years old and cannot bathe or brush teeth independently. The child is not authorized for bathing and oral hygiene hours because that is considered parental responsibility until age eight. Under the new rules, the parent will still be expected to meet the child’s bathing and oral hygiene needs. Hours will not be awarded for bathing or oral hygiene if the child’s IHSS hours are assigned to a third-party provider, and the third-party provider will not be authorized to bill time to IHSS for bathing or oral hygiene tasks.