Tools & guides

The parts of this site that work no matter which state you're in. Every one of them gives you the answer on the screen — none of them asks for an email address first.

• Care assessment

  Tells you which level of care to look at first and why — in words, not a score — then links you straight to the providers licensed near your parent. Stop and come back; it remembers where you were.

• The cost stack

  What keeping her at home actually costs a month — a caregiver, adult day, a visiting nurse — against what assisted living costs in her own region. Published medians only, each one carrying its source, and the things no survey prices named rather than quietly left out.

• When your family disagrees

  Siblings rarely start out agreeing, and most of the argument is five arguments wearing one question. What is a matter of public record, what only your parent can answer, and the four questions to write down before the next phone call. Printable.

• Your plan

  Everything you have worked out — what your parent needs, which level of care that is, who is licensed near her, the ones you saved — on one page you can print for the rest of the family. No account, and nothing is sent to us.

• What to ask, and what to check yourself

  Five printable kits for the moment before you hire or move someone — a community you are touring, an in-home care agency, a caregiver you hire yourself, home health and hospice, and anyone who offers to help you choose. What to ask, what a bad answer sounds like, and the public records that answer what a conversation will not.

• Types of care, explained

  What assisted living, memory care, nursing homes, residential care, adult foster care and independent living actually mean.

More is coming — a printable tour checklist, and a way to compare markets when your parent lives in a different city than you do. We add a tool when it works, not when it's announced.