Vermont Caregiver Support Programs: Training, Grants, and Respite for Family Caregivers
You're managing your parent's medications, coordinating doctor visits, helping with bathing, handling their finances, and fielding calls from siblings who live out of state and want updates. You haven't taken a real day off in months. You're not sleeping well. You're starting to snap at people you love.
This isn't a personal failing — it's the predictable result of providing care without adequate support. Vermont has a network of free programs designed specifically for family caregivers. Most of them go unused because nobody tells you they exist.
Free Online Training: Trualta
The Trualta platform is provided at no cost by Vermont's Area Agencies on Aging to unpaid family caregivers. It delivers self-paced online courses covering:
- Safe transfer techniques (bed to wheelchair, bath transfers)
- Medication management and common drug interactions
- Dementia communication strategies
- Nutrition and meal planning for special diets
- Fall prevention and home safety
- Managing challenging behaviors
The practical value of Trualta is significant. Most family caregivers learn by trial and error — watching a 15-minute video on proper lifting technique before your next transfer attempt can help you use safer technique.
Contact your regional AAA to set up a Trualta account.
Respite Grants
Respite care — temporary relief from caregiving duties — is funded through multiple channels:
Dementia Respite Care Grants provide up to $1,000 (or $1,500 at some AAAs) for caregivers of individuals with irreversible dementia. There is no income test. The funds can pay for in-home respite workers, adult day program attendance, or short-term residential stays that give you a break. Apply through your regional AAA.
National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP) grants provide $1,000 to $2,000 for caregivers of adults age 60 and older. These funds cover respite care, supplemental services, and caregiver education. NFCSP also funds individual counseling and access to support groups.
VA respite programs provide up to 30 days of respite care for enrolled veterans, available through the VA Caregiver Support Program (PCAFC). If your parent is a veteran, contact the VA Caregiver Support Program to ask about eligibility.
Choices for Care respite allocation — if your parent is enrolled in CFC, the care plan includes a respite component. Your case manager can arrange for temporary substitute care workers.
TCARE Assessments
When you contact your AAA for respite or support, the care consultant may conduct a TCARE assessment — a standardized tool that evaluates your specific caregiving situation: the care tasks you perform, your physical and emotional health, the intensity of caregiving demands, and your support network.
Based on the TCARE results, the consultant creates a tailored support plan that might include respite referrals, training recommendations, support group connections, and program enrollment. It's the most structured way to move from "I'm overwhelmed" to a concrete set of supports.
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Support Groups and Peer Networks
Vermont's AAAs coordinate in-person and virtual caregiver support groups across the state. The Alzheimer's Association also runs Vermont-specific groups for dementia caregivers. These groups provide something that no training program or grant can: a room full of people who understand exactly what you're going through.
Several active Facebook groups connect Vermont caregivers for real-time advice, resource sharing, and emotional support. Your AAA can point you to the most active groups in your region.
Vermont Kin as Parents
If you're a grandparent or relative raising a child while simultaneously caring for an aging parent — the "double sandwich" — Vermont Kin as Parents provides targeted support. The program offers:
- Peer support groups for relative caregivers
- Assistance navigating legal custody, guardianship, and school enrollment
- Connection to financial assistance programs
- Referrals to respite and child care resources
Contact your AAA or Vermont Kin as Parents to ask about available support.
When Support Isn't Enough
These programs help you sustain caregiving. They don't replace the underlying care needs that drive burnout. If your parent's daily care demands have escalated beyond what family caregiving can safely sustain — multiple ADLs requiring physical assistance, overnight supervision, or complex medical management — it's time to explore formal in-home care through Choices for Care or the Attendant Services Program.
Our Vermont Home Care Navigator covers the transition from informal family caregiving to structured, funded care — including the financial and clinical eligibility pathways, consumer-directed hiring through ARIS Solutions, and the respite grant applications in ready-to-complete form.
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Download the Vermont — Aging in Place Resource Checklist — a printable guide with checklists, scripts, and action plans you can start using today.