How to Start Home Care Services in Anoka County: 5 Honest Steps

Starting services can feel like a maze of assessments, acronyms, and waiting. It's more manageable when you know the path. Here's how it usually goes for families in Anoka County and the surrounding metro.

Step 1: Request an assessment

Contact your county's human services department and ask for a MnCHOICES assessment. It's free, it happens where the person lives, and it's the front door to nearly all publicly funded home and community-based services in Minnesota.

Step 2: Learn what the person qualifies for

The assessment determines eligibility for programs like the CADI, DD, BI, CAC, or Elderly waivers. If approved, the county assigns a case manager — your guide and ally for everything that follows.

Step 3: Choose a licensed provider

With your case manager, pick a 245D-licensed agency for the authorized services, then interview them: How fast can you staff this? Who do we call when something goes wrong? How do you match staff to the person?

Step 4: Build the plan together

Before services begin, the provider meets with the person, their family, and the case manager to shape a person-centered support plan — the person's goals, routines, preferences, and safety needs, in writing.

Step 5: Services begin — and stay accountable

Staff are matched, services start, and progress gets reviewed with the team on a regular schedule. A good agency treats that review as a promise, not paperwork.

Timelines vary with county workloads and staffing, so the best thing you can do is start step 1 early. And if you'd like help understanding where you are in the process, call us at (612) 454-7040 — no pressure, just directions.