Decades of Dignity: How Adult Family Care Helps People Stay at Home and Thrive

Adult Family Care (AFC) is built on a powerful idea: that people with disabilities and complex medical needs can—and should—be supported to live in the community, in homes filled with familiarity, compassion, and dignity.

Nearly 50 years ago, MassHealth launched the AFC program to put the state’s “Community First” values into action. It was designed to offer an alternative to institutional care by supporting caregivers—often family members—who open their homes to someone who needs help with daily personal care and safety.

AFC is a MassHealth-funded program and accepts open referrals for individuals who have MassHealth Standard or CommonHealth. It offers the support people need to stay in their own homes or in the homes of trusted caregivers—avoiding institutional care while gaining personalized, holistic support. Through regular nursing visits and case management, participants receive help not just with physical and medical needs, but also emotional, spiritual, and social ones.

Pathlight received approval to offer AFC in 2008 and welcomed its first participant in early 2009. Today, the program supports 78 families across western Massachusetts—each one shaped by the strength of relationships and routines that make a house a home.

Now administered by ServiceNet, the program holds CARF accreditation, a distinction that reflects the highest standards of care and accountability. Behind every placement is a team of nurses, social workers, and care coordinators who provide thoughtful, consistent support to both caregivers and the people they care for.

Adult Family Care is a simple idea, carried out with extraordinary care—one home, one family at a time.