I have been told by several people that I could be getting paid for staying home to care for my Mother?

Ask the several people who told you you could get paid. There are a few states that will pay family caregivers a few hours a day, but not many. Call your local Council onAging. They would surely know

I hear this a lot too but so far I haven't found any such programs. In my case Mom effectively "pays" me herself although we don't have a "formal" agreement drawn up or anything. I do some PT work from home and while it helps, I'd vastly prefer to be back at work FT but right now that just isn't possible, as hiring someone to come in for 40-45 hours a week would effectively cost me whatever I would theoretically be making, so what's the point?

Never trust anecdotal advice, as most of the time it's false or uninformed. I've had people tell me all sorts of things that have no basis in reality. Every case is different depending on where you live, how much money they have and etc. and the only way to really find out what you're eligible for is to go through official channels.

RockySuite227, the people who had told you that you can get paid by staying at home and caring for your Mom are somewhat misinformed. Is your Mom now paying for the cost of keeping up the house? If so, maybe it is time to downsize into something more affordable, such as senior apartments.

Curious why you wouldn't want your Mom to be placed in a facility? I know there have been negative stereotypes of nursing homes but those were mainly from the past. My Mom's nursing home is very pleasant and she is around very nice people. My Dad still lives at his home and he has paid agency caregivers to help him.

Now I worry about you, sounds like all of your savings is now gone, what will you have to retire on?

Here are the reasons why I didn't quit work to care for an aging parent.... on average if a working person quits work he/she will lose over the years between $285,000 and $325,000 which includes not only loss of salary... it also includes the net worth loss of the health insurance coverage.... loss of money being put into Social Security/Medicare..... loss of other benefits such as matching 401(k).... profit sharing.... workman's comp insurance.... company sponsored life insurance.... vacation pay, sick pay.... tuition assistance, etc. [source: in part Reuters 5/30/12]

I am sorry, but there are very few ways to get paid for taking care of a parent. If she is on Medicaid or receives assistance from the VA, there is some limited money for pay. The best alternative is to have your mother pay you herself. If you go this route, be sure to draw up a legal caregiver contract that stipulates what goods and services she will receive for how much.

We are asked this many times here on the group. You may want to use the site search to see if you can find any other answers that can help you.