Contact

Reaching a knowledgeable resource on caregiving shouldn't require navigating a phone tree designed by someone who has never actually needed to call one. This page explains how to send a message to the National Caregiver Authority editorial and reference team, what information makes for a faster and more useful response, and which topics fall within the scope of what this office handles — and which ones are better directed elsewhere.

Additional contact options

The primary contact method for this office is the message form linked from the site's main navigation. For researchers, healthcare professionals, or journalists working on deadline, email correspondence is also accepted — contact details are listed in the footer of every page on the site.

For caregivers who need to connect with a real person in a support or crisis capacity, the Eldercare Locator (eldercare.acl.gov), operated by the U.S. Administration for Community Living, maintains a national network of local agencies and can be reached by phone at 1-800-677-1116. The National Alliance for Caregiving (caregiving.org) maintains a curated directory of support organizations across all 50 states. These are live-assistance resources with trained staff — a distinction worth making clearly.

The National Caregiver Authority is a reference and research resource. It does not provide direct case management, legal advice, clinical guidance, or crisis intervention. For urgent caregiver support situations, the ARCH National Respite Network (archrespite.org) and the Family Caregiver Alliance (caregiver.org) operate dedicated helplines with professional staff.

How to reach this office

Correspondence sent through the contact form reaches the editorial team directly. Response times for general inquiries typically fall within 3–5 business days. Media and research inquiries, clearly labeled as such in the subject line, are prioritized and generally receive a response within 2 business days.

The office does not maintain a public phone number. This is not an oversight — it is a deliberate structure that allows the editorial team to maintain the research and writing quality that makes the site useful in the first place. A researcher mid-draft on a 2,000-word explainer on Medicaid caregiver reimbursement is not best interrupted by a phone call about something equally answerable in writing.

For questions about specific page content — a statistic that looks outdated, a program reference that has changed, a resource link that no longer resolves — the contact form includes a field for the relevant page URL. Using it significantly speeds up the editorial review process.

Service area covered

National Caregiver Authority covers caregiving topics across the full United States, with reference to federal programs, federal statutes, and national-level data. State-specific information appears where it is directly relevant — particularly in sections covering paid family leave for caregivers, Medicaid reimbursement structures, and caregiver employment protections, where state law varies substantially from federal baseline.

The site does not currently cover caregiving law or policy in U.S. territories or outside the United States. Inquiries about Canadian caregiver policy, for instance, are outside scope — though Statistics Canada and the Government of Canada's caregiving benefit documentation are public resources worth noting for anyone researching cross-border caregiving situations.

Topics within scope include:

1. Family and informal caregiving — responsibilities, dynamics, and the transition from informal to professional care arrangements
2. Professional caregiving — qualifications, certification programs, agency versus independent caregiver models
3. Caregiver health and wellbeing — burnout, mental health, self-care frameworks, respite care
4. Financial and legal dimensions — compensation structures, tax considerations, government assistance programs
5. Specialized caregiving contexts — dementia caregiving, veteran caregiving, pediatric caregiving, end-of-life care
6. Ethics and safety — caregiver abuse prevention, documentation standards, professional ethics and boundaries

What to include in your message

A message that arrives with context gets a more useful response than one that doesn't. The difference between "I have a question about caregiving" and a well-framed inquiry is roughly the difference between asking a librarian for "a book" and asking for a 2023 reference on Medicaid waiver programs in states with managed long-term services.

For general content questions, include:

• The specific page or topic the question relates to (a URL is ideal)
• Whether the question concerns a factual error, an outdated reference, or a gap in coverage
• Any named source or document that contradicts or supplements existing content

For research and media inquiries, include:

• Affiliation and publication or institution name
• The scope of the project — a one-sentence description is sufficient
• Deadline, if applicable

For suggestions about topics not yet covered on the site, a brief description of the caregiving scenario or policy question is more useful than a single keyword. A message explaining that a reader is navigating background check requirements for a private-hire home caregiver in a rural county tells the editorial team something actionable. "More content on hiring" does not.

Correspondence that includes personally identifiable information about a care recipient — names, medical details, financial account information — should not be sent through the contact form. This office is not a HIPAA-covered entity and cannot handle protected health information. Caregiving situations involving medical specifics are best addressed with a licensed care coordinator, social worker, or the care recipient's healthcare team directly.