Your role in caregiving
Home care aides help people with the day-to-day activities.
- Personal Care – Assists with bathing, dressing, grooming, hygiene, and toileting
- Daily Support – Helps with meals, housekeeping, and mobility
- Health Monitoring – Reminds about medications and watches for health changes
- Companionship – Offers conversation, encouragement, and emotional support
Where you'll work
Home care aides support individuals in a variety of settings.
- Private homes where you support individuals living independently.
- Assisted living facilities where you help residents in a larger community setting.
- Adult family homes supporting 2-8 residents in a small home setting.
Caregivers in Washington State earn an average of $18 to $25 per hour. Pay depends on the job, the employer, and where you work. On average, caregivers here earn about 30% more than the national rate.
This role might be right for you if...
You’re patient, dependable, and enjoy helping others with everyday tasks. You don’t mind working one-on-one and want to make a real difference in someone’s daily life.
How to become a Home Care Aide
Search for Caregiving Jobs
You can choose to look for a job before you complete training or after you’re certified. Many employers, but not all, provide the required training after you’re hired.
You can find a home care aide job in your area by:
- Searching online job websites using terms such as “home care aide” or “caregiver.”
- Contact the employer directly you want to work for.
- Contacting a Navigator to get personalized help to find job openings in your area.
Build your skills
As a home care aide, you must complete 75 hours of DSHS‑approved training. This includes 5 hours of Orientation & Safety training. You must finish this before you can work with clients.
To get home care aide training, you can either:
- Find an approved training program.
- Apply for a job with an employer who will provide you with the required training after you’re hired.
Step into your role as a certified caregiver
Home care aides are certified by the Department of Health. Learn more about certification requirements on the DOH Home Care Aide webpage or watch introductory video.
- Submit a DOH Home Care Aide certification application within 14 days of being hired as a caregiver.
- If you have a job as a home care aide, ask your employer if they will help pay the fee. If not, include payment with your application.
- If you finished your training and are not employed, mark that you are not working as a home care aide on your application.
- After you submit your application, DOH will email you instructions to schedule your exams. More details are on the DOH’s Exam Information webpage.
- Become certified within 365 days of your hire date.
Stay certified to keep making a difference
After you become an HCA, renew your certification every year. Your renewal deadline is usually your birthday.
For renewal information, visit the Department of Health’s License Renewals webpage.
Each year, you must complete 12 hours of continuing education to keep your certification active.
How to find approved continuing education classes:
If you are employed as a caregiver, you may be able to:
- Take classes through your employer.
- If you work for an adult family home, assisted living, an enhanced service facility, or a home care agency not part of SEIU, you can take free classes through CareLearn.
- If you are a SEIU member — including CDWA individual providers and some home care agency staff — take your classes through SEIU 775 Benefits Group.
If you are not employed, you may be able to take free online classes through CareLearn or find approved community instructors.
Common questions
- Can I work while I’m waiting for my home care aide certification to be approved?
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Yes, once you have completed two hours of orientation and three hours of safety training approved by the Department of Social and Health Services, you may begin working.
- You must complete 75 hours of approved training within 120 days of your date of hire or you must stop working.
- You must have your home care aide certification within 365 days of your date of hire or you must stop working.
- Do I need a background check to become a home care aide?
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Yes. All long-term care workers must complete a background check. If you’re working for an agency or facility, your employer will help you with this. If you’re an individual provider with Consumer Direct WA, they will provide you instructions during the hiring process.
If you’re not currently working as a caregiver and you apply for home care aide certification, the Department of Health will run a background check. They will let you know if you need to do anything further.
Learn more on the DSHS Background Check Central Unit website. For certification details, visit the Department of Health Home Care Aide webpage.
For information on what could disqualify you from working as a caregiver review this information on disqualifying crimes and negative actions.
- What is an OCA number and do I need one?
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When you submit your home care aide certification application to Department of Health, you will need to provide an OCA number. An OCA number (also called an Inquiry ID Number) is a unique number. This number comes from a background check and is required when you apply for your license.
- If you are an individual provider, you will get your OCA number from CDWA.
- If you work for an agency or facility, your employer will do a background check and give you the OCA number.
- If you are not working yet, you may not be able to get a background check through DSHS. The Department of Health may ask you to do a different background check instead.
Background Check Central Unit is unable to give out this number to applicants.
Visit DSHS Background Check Central Unit webpage for more information.
- How do I maintain my home care aide certification in Washington state?
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To keep your home care aide certification active in Washington, you must:
- Complete 12 hours of continuing education each year
- Renew your certification annually with the Washington State Department of Health
Failing to meet these requirements can result in your certification expiring, which would prevent you from legally working as a home care aide.