Administration of Community Living

The Administration for Community Living (ACL), a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, leads the national effort to support family caregivers. Its caregiver page is a gateway to the federal programs and policy initiatives that make local caregiver services possible — and a reminder that family caregivers, more than 70 million strong nationally, are essential to helping older adults and people with disabilities live independently.

ACL funds the National Family Caregiver Support Program, which channels resources to states and local agencies to provide training, counseling, respite, and other direct services — the very programs many Michigan families access through their Area Agencies on Aging. ACL also established the RAISE Family Caregiving Advisory Council, which guides the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers and is advancing hundreds of near-term actions across government and private partners. Its support extends to specific groups, including grandparents raising grandchildren, Native American caregivers of tribal elders, and people with dementia and their caregivers, and it invests in respite expansion and the direct-care workforce.

This resource matters because understanding the federal framework helps caregivers see how the system fits together and where to find the locally delivered services it funds. While ACL itself operates at the national and policy level, its page links families to programs and resources they can use on the ground. For Michigan caregivers, it offers helpful context and a doorway to the support network that ultimately reaches their own communities.