What PCAFC is, and what it pays
The Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) is a VA program that supports a family member who provides in-home personal care to a seriously disabled veteran. It is not a lump sum and it is not a claim you file once — it is an ongoing benefit tied to a caregiving relationship VA has assessed and approved. An approved primary family caregiver receives:
- 01A monthly stipend, paid directly to the caregiver — not to the veteran. The amount depends on where the veteran lives and which of the two levels VA assigns (see below).
- 02CHAMPVA health coverage for the caregiver, if they are not already covered by another health insurance plan.
- 03Mental health counseling — caregiving is heavy, and support for the caregiver is built into the program.
- 04At least 30 days of respite care each year — VA arranges for someone else to cover the veteran's care for short stretches so the caregiver can rest, travel, or handle their own appointments.
Who qualifies
Both people have to meet their own set of requirements. Read them as one test with two halves: the veteran's care need, and the caregiver's relationship.
The veteran
The veteran must have a single or combined service-connected disability rated 70% or higher. On top of that rating, the veteran must need in-home personal care for at least six continuous months because of that service-connected condition — and that care need has to fit one of two patterns:
Pattern A — an ADL need
The veteran can't perform one or more activities of daily living (ADLs) without help. VA counts these as ADLs:
- dressing or undressing
- bathing
- grooming to stay clean and presentable
- using the bathroom / toileting
- feeding oneself
- mobility — walking, stairs, transferring from bed to chair
- adjusting a prosthetic or orthopedic device
Pattern B — a supervision need
Or the veteran needs supervision, protection, or instruction to stay safe at home. This is the pattern many families miss, because there may be no wheelchair or missing limb involved. It looks like:
- a risk of wandering off or getting lost or disoriented if left alone
- a choking risk that requires someone present at meals to intervene
- PTSD or a TBI that leads to unsafe behavior — leaving the stove on, harming themselves — when the veteran is alone for long periods
Either pattern qualifies. You do not have to show both, and the supervision path counts just as much as the hands-on-care path.
The caregiver
The caregiver must be at least 18 years old, and must either:
- be related to the veteran — a spouse, child, parent, stepfamily member, or extended family member — or
- live with the veteran full-time (for example, a long-term partner who shares the home).
A spouse who already lives in the home meets both tests, which is the most common setup. But a parent, an adult child, or a live-in partner can all be the paid caregiver.
The two levels of PCAFC
Once VA approves a caregiver, it assigns a level based on how much the veteran can do on their own. The level sets the stipend amount.
- Level 1 — VA finds the veteran can "self-sustain in the community." This carries the lower stipend.
- Level 2 — VA finds the veteran is "unable to self-sustain in the community." This carries the higher stipend.
You don't pick the level — it comes out of the assessments. That is one more reason the assessment is worth preparing for: it drives both whether you're approved and how much the stipend is.
How to apply — VA Form 10-10CG
The veteran and the caregiver apply together on VA Form 10-10CG. One application covers the pair; you can't file it as just the veteran or just the caregiver.
Three ways to file
- webOnline. Use VA's online caregiver application, which is the equivalent of VA Form 10-10CG, on VA.gov.
- mailBy mail. Print and complete VA Form 10-10CG and mail it, with any supporting documents, to:
10-10CG Evidence Intake Center
PO Box 5154
Janesville, WI 53547-5154 - irlIn person. Bring the completed form to your local VA facility's Caregiver Support Program (CSP) team. To find your team, use VA's CSP Team locator or call the Caregiver Support Line at 855-260-3274.
The six-step process
Filing the form starts a process VA runs the same way each time. Here is the whole sequence so nothing catches you by surprise.
Submit the application together
The veteran and caregiver file VA Form 10-10CG (or the equivalent online application) as a pair. This starts the clock.
Complete the assessments
VA reaches out to schedule a series of assessments: a veteran assessment, a functional assessment — a VFAI (Veteran Functional Assessment Instrument) consult, with the caregiver present, sometimes done over video — and a separate caregiver assessment about the care you provide and can keep providing. This is the stage that decides your case; the whole next section is about it.
VA makes an initial determination
Using the assessments, VA decides whether to move forward or stop. You'll either get a denial notice or be scheduled for the remaining steps.
Caregiver training
The caregiver completes training — an in-person class, an online course, or a workbook and DVD from VA. It can usually be finished in about a day.
Home visit
An evaluator visits to confirm the home is safe and equipped for the veteran's care — working smoke alarms and fire extinguishers, and gear like a shower chair or handrails where they're needed.
CEAT reviews and decides
A Clinical Eligibility and Appeals Team (CEAT) reviews everything gathered in the assessments and the home visit and makes the eligibility decision. The decision comes by mail; VA may also call the veteran and/or caregiver.
⭐ Preparing for the assessments
VA doesn't require you to prepare. But the assessment is where approval and your level are decided, and the difference between a thin file and a strong one is almost always preparation. Do this work before your first appointment.
Go into granular detail
The evaluator wants the smallest-piece breakdown of every caregiving task — and why each piece is necessary. General statements like "I take care of him" or "I help with her medications" tell them almost nothing. Break each task into steps, name the deficit that makes your help necessary, and describe what would go wrong without you. Here is the same task at three levels of detail so you can hear the difference:
- Too vague"I help him with his medications."
- Better"I manage his medications because his TBI makes him forget doses."
- Specific — this is what wins"Every morning at 7:00 I fill his day's pill organizer, because he can't keep straight which pills go in which slot. At each dose I hand him the pills and stay in the room until he swallows them. Twice he took a second full dose an hour later because he forgot the first one, so I now keep the bottles in a locked cabinet and hold the key. I also call the pharmacy for refills, because he can't get through the phone menu on his own."
The specific version shows an ADL/supervision need, the reason behind it, and a real consequence — a double-dose — that makes the risk concrete. Do that for every task.
Keep a caregiving log
For about two weeks before the functional assessment, keep a running log of caregiving. A few days is the minimum — a complete log covering three or four days beats a patchy one stretched over two weeks. Write down every task you perform and, just as important, the time you spend watching or supervising for safety, which is easy to forget because it doesn't feel like "doing" anything. Note specific events too: a fall, a time the veteran got lost, a time care wasn't there and something went wrong.
US Vet Help's Symptom & Flare-Up Journal is a good starting point for this log — it already captures worst days, what the veteran couldn't do, and the daily-life impact, and it stays on your device. Use it to build the caregiving record you'll bring to the assessment.
List the veteran's doctors
Bring a list of the veteran's doctors with current contact information for each. VA has a duty to gather records, and a ready list makes it far easier for them to reach everyone on the veteran's medical team — especially specialists who treat the condition behind the care need.
Expect personal, invasive questions — and prepare for them
PCAFC assessments get into deeply personal territory. Evaluators will almost certainly ask how the veteran uses the bathroom and, if the veteran acts unsafely when alone, they'll want specifics about that conduct. These are hard things to say out loud. Prepare for them in advance so they don't catch either of you off guard — and answer thoroughly when they come, because the detail is exactly what helps your application.
Practice VA's language: supervise, protect, instruct
VA uses specific words for everyday care. Where you'd normally say you "watch" or "keep an eye on" the veteran, VA says supervise and protect. Where you'd say you "remind" them how to do something, VA says instruct. Getting comfortable with those words — and having a short example ready for each — helps the evaluator score what you do. Try building your own, like:
- Protect"I protect him by putting the guard back on the stove every time it's used — otherwise he turns on the burner and walks away."
- Instruct"I instruct her before she leaves the house by walking her through getting fully dressed, because she'll head outside without a coat or shoes."
Get on the same page
It's normal for the veteran and the caregiver to remember the amount of care differently. Before the assessment, compare notes and reconcile what you can. Where your impressions still differ, plan to lead with what you both agree on rather than getting tangled in the gaps in front of the evaluator.
Request accommodations in writing
The assessments can run long. If the veteran needs an accommodation to get through one — breaks, a shorter session, help discussing a topic that's tied to PTSD — request it in writing ahead of time, by email or through My HealtheVet. The request might be granted, ignored, or denied, but putting it in writing before the assessment matters: it's on the record if you ever need to appeal.
During and after the assessments
Answer every question fully, even if it repeats. You may be asked the same thing more than once. Don't shortcut it with "like I said" — give the complete answer every time, even if the session feels like it's dragging.
Tell the team to contact the veteran's other doctors. Especially in the veteran assessment, hand over contact information for every doctor the veteran has seen recently, and point specifically to the specialists who can speak to the condition behind the care need.
Make sure everything important got covered. Assessments can feel rushed. Before you finish, pause and think back through the conversation — did every kind of care come up? Any medical issue that got skipped? Your log is the checklist for this.
Review the records afterward in My HealtheVet. The assessment records should accurately reflect the veteran's ratings, diagnoses, and medications. If you spot an error, send a message to get it corrected as soon as possible — an error left in the record can follow the decision.
Evidence worth including
If the veteran has a primary care doctor at VA, you don't have to submit outside medical records — VA has a duty to assist and will try to gather what's needed. But in some situations, extra evidence helps your case:
- Fiduciary or guardianship paperwork — if a fiduciary handles the veteran's VA or Social Security benefits, or there's a legal guardianship or conservatorship, include documentation of it. The caregiver and the fiduciary or guardian don't have to be the same person.
- A prior neuropsychiatric evaluation — not required for PCAFC, but if the veteran has already been through one, include the report.
- Relevant ER-visit records — a visit that shows the care need is worth including. A veteran who went to the ER after a fall in the shower, for example, helps show why help with an ADL is necessary.
- Recent non-VA medical records — if the veteran usually sees a doctor or system outside VA, gather those records. You don't need every record ever created; the most recent ones matter most.
If you're denied
A denial isn't the end of the road. If VA rejects the application and you still believe the veteran qualifies, you can appeal. This is a good point to get help from a Veterans Service Organization (VSO) or a veterans legal-services organization — they do this work at no charge and know how these decisions are challenged. You can find an accredited rep through our free, accredited-help locator.
Preparing a caregiver claim is one piece. See every benefit the rating unlocks for your family.
Run the caregiver screener →Sources & disclaimer
Where these facts come from. Everything here traces to VA's public description of the program:
- VA — Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC)
- VA Form 10-10CG — about the caregiver application form
- VA Caregiver Support Line — 855-260-3274
For a deeper walkthrough written by veterans attorneys, we recommend the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) "Self-Help Guide for Applying for PCAFC" (December 2024) — see nvlsp.org. It's a strong free resource, and if you're denied, NVLSP also offers representation.
Not legal or medical advice, and not the VA. This page is general information to help you prepare — it isn't a determination, and program details change. Confirm current eligibility, benefit amounts, and steps on VA.gov or with a VSO. US Vet Help is a veteran-owned tool, is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and does not file claims or represent veterans.