Certified Family Homes (CFH) provide a safe, family-style living environment for adults who need some assistance with the activities of daily living, but do not require a more restrictive institutional setting.
A CFH is a home that meets approval criteria set by the State of Idaho and is certified by the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare to care for between one and four adult residents who cannot live on their own. Certification as a CFH is required when a paid caregiver provides services to any vulnerable adult residing in the caregiver’s home.
The focus of a CFH is to provide safe and effective care to residents in a homelike, family-style atmosphere, with an emphasis on protecting residents’ rights and involvement with the community.
Health and safety are the top priorities of a CFH. To properly care for each resident, the CFH provider must:
- Have the time and appropriate skills to provide the level of and types of services required to meet each resident’s mental, emotional, and physical needs;
- Ensure the home meets the resident’s physical needs; and
- Maintain compliance with environmental sanitation, fire/life safety, and physical home standards set for the CFH program.
A resident is an adult who lives with the CFH provider and needs personal assistance and/or supervision. The CFH provider may or may not be related to the resident. Reasons the resident may be vulnerable and requires care include:
- Advanced age;
- Mental illness;
- Developmental disability; and/or
- Physical disability
As part of being admitted to a CFH, each resident will be assessed for functional, medical, and behavioral needs. Based on these assessed needs, the CFH provider and the resident will develop a plan of service detailing how the provider will care for the resident.
Residents may be eligible for Medicaid assistance to pay their CFH provider for their care. To apply for Medicaid benefits, call the department’s Benefits Customer Service Center at 877-456-1233.
If ineligible for Medicaid, the resident may pay his or her CFH provider for care through personal funds or private insurance. All residents are responsible to pay their CFH provider a monthly room and board charge as negotiated in the admission agreement.