Yes. Michigan's Home Help Program has one of the broadest caregiver-eligibility policies of any state Medicaid personal care program — aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins can all be paid caregivers, and the state's rules actually go even further than that.
The actual (short) list of who's excluded
MDHHS excludes a spouse being paid to care for their own spouse, and generally a parent being paid to care for their own minor child, since that falls under ordinary parental responsibility. Beyond those two situations, MDHHS doesn't restrict caregiver eligibility by degree of relationship. Home Help even allows non-relatives, like close friends and neighbors, so extended family clearly qualifies too.
Why families overlook this option
Many families assume "family caregiver" only means an adult child or a spouse, so an aunt or cousin who's already stepping in gets treated as an afterthought instead of a paid option. The family then goes looking for an outside agency worker — and loses the chance to keep care inside a relationship the older adult already trusts.
One thing that doesn't change based on relationship
Every paid caregiver goes through the same Michigan background check regardless of how they're related to the recipient — see our post on what actually disqualifies a caregiver — and the same enrollment steps in CHAMPS.
If more than one extended relative wants to help
Approved hours can be split between more than one paid caregiver, which is common when several relatives are involved. Our post on how many caregivers one person can have covers how that division actually works.
