Family Caregiver Support Initiatives

The Trualta online learning platform provides family caregivers with free educational content, tutorials, and access to industry professionals. The community bundle also allows caregivers to engage with each other in a safe and confidential space via discussion forums and online support groups.

The Wisconsin Family and Caregiver Support Alliance (WFACSA) website, WisconsinCaregiver.org, is being redesigned to be more user-friendly and include even more helpful resources. In addition to our DHS website, WisconsinCaregiver.org will be another valuable and trusted resource available to every family caregiver and care professional in Wisconsin.

Partners across the state are developing new outreach materials to increase awareness of caregiver support programs. We chose this as a priority because many people do not consider themselves caregivers even though they are shouldering the stress and responsibilities of caregiving every day.

Over the two years of the grant, we will be building a free library of replicable social media posts, YouTube videos, and written materials that can be used by ADRCs (aging and disability resource centers), health care providers, community organizations, and anyone else interested in helping ease the burden caregivers feel. Siblings of all ages who help provide care to a brother or sister with a disability will be highlighted through this initiative.

The Wisconsin Family and Caregiver Support Alliance (WFACSA) will host roundtable discussions with the Wisconsin Aging Advocacy Network (WAAN) to establish new partnerships with potential partner agencies and policymakers. Engaging more kinship and older relative caregivers, sibling caregivers, and other underserved groups is a priority of the national strategy that aligns with Wisconsin’s goals. Our project aims to engage every kind of family caregiver and care service provider as part of this expanded outreach effort.

A free training series will be launched later in 2025 that teaches professionals how to more effectively interact with family caregivers.

Upon course completion trainees will receive a Caregiver-Friendly Certification and Badge which can be publicly displayed and used in promotional materials by any employer, clinic, school, provider agency, or community member.

Nutritious Meals as Respite

This program provides nutritious meals and gives a break to family caregivers who struggle to take care of themselves. Self-neglect or neglecting the nutrition of a person in one’s care can have serious consequences. This program can be accessed through the Respite Care Association of Wisconsin (RCAW).

Mental Health and Wellness Grant Program

This provides caregivers with funding to cover mental health and wellness services such as:

• Therapeutic services.
• Respite care.
• Wellness programs.
• Educational resources.
• Support services.
• Health and wellness activities.
• Nutrition counseling.
• Technology and new tools.
• Community programs.
• Legal and financial counseling.

This program can be accessed through the RCAW.

StartUP Respite Grant Program

RCAW’s StartUP Respite Grant Program provides funding to support startup costs associated with opening new respite programs or businesses. After completing a free online "Bringing Respite to Your Community" training and creating a viable business plan, participants become eligible to receive a startup grant. This program is available to anyone interested in developing new respite-related services or programs for family caregivers and care recipients.

We are encouraging Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) to include caregiver respite as a benefit in all member-centered plans. Steps we are taking to achieve this include:

• Improving the tool used to assess the needs of MCO family caregivers.
• Providing instructions on how to use the tool.
• Training MCO staff on the importance of proactively using respite to prevent burnout rather than after caregivers experience burnout.
• Requiring MCOs to build caregiver supports and respite services into individuals' self-directed support budgets.
• Encouraging MCO staff to educate family caregivers about the benefits of scheduling respite proactively to avoid burnout and health problems.

Wisconsin is developing a respite task force to discuss the respite needs of all family caregivers in the state. Membership will include DHS staff and representatives from:

• Managed care organizations (MCOs).
• IRIS consulting agencies.
• Family Care.
• Family Care Partnership.
• Children's long-term support services.
• Agencies that administer respite services to caregivers of managed care participants.

Task force members will learn, discuss, and educate agency staff and managed care customers about the importance of including a respite benefit for family caregivers. The group will also identify core data sets DHS can collect to track progress.

We believe employers that support working caregivers deserve to be recognized. This initiative to present an Exemplary Employer Award will recognize and lift up the many Wisconsin businesses and organizations that support the workforce they employ. It will also connect businesses and human resource professionals to free and low-cost caregiver supports available from the state of Wisconsin and community partners.

If you know of a Wisconsin employer who deserves recognition, you can submit an application until August 31, 2025. Anybody can submit an application for any employer. 

Submit an application for the Wisconsin Exemplary Employer Award

In late 2025, the Wisconsin Family and Caregiver Support Alliance will invite any interested employer to join a new coalition to continue improving workplace practices that support working caregivers.

We will use interviews with Exemplary Employer Award winners to create a video series to share with other employers and business organizations. The series will highlight best practices that support employees with family caregiving responsibilities and explain the benefits of earning a Wisconsin Caregiver-Friendly Employer Certification and Badge.

An updated version of the Wisconsin HR Care Kit (PDF) will be released that includes lessons learned from 2025 Exemplary Employers Award winners. It will contain updated best practices and be distributed to employers statewide at no cost.