Sign In
Sign In

Life After Prison: Can I Be an IHSS Caregiver?

A reader wrote to us with a question a lot of people are afraid to ask out loud. He has a felony conviction from 2013. His wife is disabled. They have been married thirty-one years. Can he be paid to care for her through IHSS — and can she sign something to make it possible? […]

IHSS Advance Pay in California: How It Works & Who Qualifies

Most IHSS recipients get their provider paid the ordinary way: the provider submits a timesheet, and the state pays them afterward. Advance Pay flips that. If you qualify, the state sends the money to you first, and you pay your provider directly out of that payment. It’s a real option under state law, not a […]

Can a Spouse Be Paid as an IHSS Provider in California?

If you are married to someone who receives In-Home Supportive Services, you have probably wondered whether you can be paid for care you are already providing. In California the answer is yes — but only for part of it. The line between paid and unpaid work is drawn in state law, not left to your […]

IHSS Protective Supervision Appeal: Why Money Isn’t Evidence

At almost every Protective Supervision appeal, a parent says some version of the same sentence. We are behind on rent. I quit my job to watch him. These hours are the only income coming in. It is usually true, it is often the reason the family is in the room at all, and the administrative […]

IHSS 90-Hour Exemption: Who Qualifies and How to Apply

If you are an IHSS provider working for two or more recipients, California law caps you at 66 hours of work per week — no matter how many hours your recipients have been authorized to receive. For some households that cap is a scheduling nuisance. For a parent caring for two disabled children, or a […]

You’re an Enrolled IHSS Provider. So Why Hasn’t Anyone Called?

You did everything the county asked. You filled out the SOC 426, sat through the provider orientation, signed the SOC 846, and stood for a Live Scan fingerprint scan. Then the phone stopped ringing — because it never started. If that is your experience, you have not done anything wrong, and you are not imagining […]

How IHSS Overtime Is Calculated (and Why Checks Differ Between Caregivers)

Overtime in IHSS is settled one Sunday-to-Saturday week at a time. It is not averaged across the month and it is not tied to your paycheck cycle. Once you can see all three clocks at once — the workweek, the pay period, and the monthly authorization — most “why is my check different” questions answer […]

IHSS Rehearing Process: Deadlines, Grounds & Next Steps

The envelope from the State Hearings Division arrives, and the decision inside is not the one you needed. Maybe the judge upheld the county’s cut to your hours. Maybe a service you count on was denied. Whatever the outcome, an unfavorable fair hearing decision is not automatically the end of your case. California law gives […]

California’s IHSS Late-Reassessment Penalty Explained

IHSS Policy Counties now pay when IHSS reassessments run late California has a new penalty for late CFCO reassessments. It’s real — but it’s money counties owe the state, not a fee you can collect. Here’s what it is and what actually protects you. You may have heard that California now penalizes counties that fall […]