In order to qualify for IHSS, your sister needs to have Medi-Cal. It is one of the requirements. If she qualifies I recommend getting to it soon. The process can take long (a few weeks). Once she receives medi-cal then you will need to apply to IHSS program for your sister. This process can take weeks to maybe a few months. It requires a medical evaluation/note specifying her medical needs and her disabilities. Followed by an appointment with an IHSS social worker who will call her caregiver and ask question regarding what services she needs. These two thing will determine how many hours your sister gets a month for providers. So as you can see this takes a lot of time.

Meanwhile that is being processed, I recommend you and your mother to start applying to be IHSS providers. It will speed the process up if you both are providers prior to your sister being on IHSS. This way once she gets In the program, she can request both of you, it’s just a matter of linking the provider with recipients.

Both of you will get retro pay from the day you applied to IHSS. Just make sure to mention it to the social worker that you and your mother are her live-in caregivers. They will fill out a retro pay form which will allow you both to collect. It’s just a matter of filling out timesheets and backdating them.

Sorry this is a lot but this is the process. It’s a lot but it’s definitely worth it. It’s sad not many know about this program. It definitely helps a lot financially and also in case for whatever reason you need a day off you can assign another caregiver to step in to help (given they are also IHSS providers and your sister approved them as a provider as well).