The IHSS Community: Shared Ideals, Challenges, and Support IHSS is more than a paycheck. It’s a lifeline that allows over half a million Californians — older adults, people with disabilities, and families — to live at home with dignity. For caregivers, it’s both work...
At this week’s Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting, IHSS caregivers gathered to deliver a clear and urgent message: we need a living wage.
Santa Barbara Independent – publication – 08/20/2025 – By Callie Fausey
Caregivers Call on the Board of Supervisors to Raise Their Wages to $22 an Hour. Mary Bouldin, 58, works about 140 hours a week taking care of her 24-year-old son, Tom.
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this……
As a parent, you hope to have answers when something seems wrong with your child. But what happens when even specialists can’t explain it? That was our reality as we navigated life with a child facing unexplained developmental delays, sensory sensitivities, and health problems. Years of tests and visits to neurologists, pediatric specialists, and behavioral experts brought no diagnosis, only the repeated phrase: “We just don’t know.” This “diagnostic odyssey” left us in limbo—without a roadmap for treatment or a community to lean on. The emotional toll was heavy, but we stayed hopeful, believing that the next breakthrough might finally provide the answers and connection we needed.
The Medication List Managing my son’s medications has been one of the most critical aspects of our daily routine. Over the years, I’ve found that keeping a well-organized medication list is a lifesaver. I use Microsoft Word to create a detailed table for his...
