Please make parents as paid PCAs under the consumer-directed services in Virginia permanent! Putting this option in place has been a savior for our family. Over the years finding a long-term, reliable, responsible PCA through an agency and through consumer-directed has been nearly impossible. This is an undue stress that can be completely avoided. Having to find someone, deal with them not showing, arriving late, not handling your disabled child to your standards, especially when your child is unable to communicate what is going on when you're not home, is harmful to the already stressful circumstance of having to care for a child for the rest of her life. As parents, we happily do this, but ask that we be able to do it personally if hiring an outsider is not possible. These days, no one is willing to work for the going rates and we can't just hire anyone off the street to care for our loved ones. When is it ever a better choice to have a stranger take care of your family member than their own family? This option is safer, healthier, and more beneficial for our children and helps our families financially. Every bit helps. To have a parent become part of an agency who will take a portion of the hourly rate, it just adds more red tape, stress and a waste of money that should be going to the families who are just trying to serve their disabled family member the best they can. Please lift this burden and allow parents to continue to care for their children through the consumer-directed option.