Pay Fair for Care Campaign
In 2017, Florida ARF, the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council (FDDC), and The Arc of Florida launched the Pay Fair for Care campaign as a continued effort to shed light on the importance of strengthening direct care staff so they can earn a living wage. Throughout this campaign, Florida ARF and its partners will implement a variety of tactics to gain attention from decision makers and influencers in the upcoming Legislative Session.
We encourage you to get involved and support the need to resolve the provider rate crisis!
A Look Into the Importance of Direct Care
Florida families and providers must be able to recruit and retain dedicated people to work with the direct care needs of persons with intellectual/developmental disabilities.
- Reimbursement rates are no longer offsetting the total cost of care.
- The current rate for reimbursement to providers has decreased over the past 14 years creating a crisis for families and providers in both finding and keeping dedicated people to provide direct care.
- The number of available "hands on" providers has decreased by 30%.
- No matter what setting in which an individual with a intellectual/developmental disability lives, retention of well trained, qualified staff is critical.
- For families, the combination of concerns about the quality of care, less availability for care, and fewer service options to access care poses a distinct threat to the health and safety of their loved ones.
We must support living wages for direct care services!
Increasing these rates will allow adequate wages to front-line staff and help strengthen and maintain necessary services.
Pay Fair for Care Video
