Resources
Where the actual help is
A short, curated list of the places we send caregivers \u2014 mostly government and nonprofit. No affiliate links. We\u2019ll keep this trimmed; a list of forty resources is the same as no list at all.
Start here when you don’t know where to start
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A free public service of the U.S. Administration on Aging. Plug in a ZIP code or call 1-800-677-1116 and they’ll connect you to the local Area Agency on Aging. This is the single most useful starting point most people don’t know exists.
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Long-running nonprofit with practical fact sheets and a state-by-state services directory. The fact sheets on dementia, conservatorship, and caregiving across distance are particularly good.
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Despite the brand, this is a deep, well-edited library on the operational side of caregiving — medications, home safety, legal documents, and difficult conversations. Free; AARP membership not required.
Legal & financial
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National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA)
Find a vetted elder-law attorney by state. An hour with a good one before a crisis is one of the highest-leverage things a family can do.
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Medicare.gov — plan finder & coverage
Official source for what Medicare does and does not cover (hint: routine long-term custodial care is mostly not covered — that surprises a lot of families).
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Medicaid.gov — long-term services and supports
Federal overview. Actual rules vary state by state. Pair this with an elder-law attorney before assuming what you qualify for.
Mental health & support
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AARP Family Caregivers Discussion Group
A moderated forum where caregivers ask the awkward questions. Reading other people’s threads helps more than you’d think.
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Support specifically for spouses of chronically ill or disabled adults — not the same as adult-child caregiving, but adjacent and worth knowing about.
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If you or your parent are in crisis, call or text 988. Caregiver burnout sometimes lands here. There’s no shame in that line.
Specific conditions
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Alzheimer’s Association — 24/7 helpline
Free, confidential, staffed by master’s-level clinicians. Useful well beyond the official diagnosis — they take questions about any kind of dementia.
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CaringInfo — advance care planning
State-specific advance directive forms, plain-language explainers on hospice and palliative care.
A working principle
If something on this page disappears, gets bought, or starts pushing a paid service, we’ll take it off. Tell us if you spot something that needs a second look.