What Is Adult Foster Care in Michigan? A Guide for Families
If you have been searching for assisted living in Michigan, you have probably noticed something confusing. Some places call themselves assisted living. Some call themselves adult foster care. Some use both terms. And nobody seems to explain the difference.
I am going to explain it, because this is one of those things that actually matters — not just as a technicality, but for the safety of your loved one.
Michigan Does Not License "Assisted Living"
This surprises most families. In Michigan, "assisted living" is not an official license category. It is a marketing term. Any facility can call itself an assisted living community without holding a specific license for that label. The state does not regulate the term.
What Michigan does license are two categories of residential care:
Adult foster care homes, licensed under the Adult Foster Care Facility Licensing Act (Act 218 of 1979). These homes provide supervision, personal care, and room and board for adults who need help but do not require continuous nursing care.
Homes for the aged, licensed under the Public Health Code (Act 368). These serve residents aged 55 and over and provide room, board, and supervised personal care.
Both are regulated and inspected by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs — LARA. Both have rules about staffing, safety, resident rights, and training. Both are accountable.
A place that only calls itself "assisted living" without an adult foster care or Home for the Aged license? It is not inspected. It is not regulated as a long-term care setting. There are no public records about it on LARA's website. That should concern you.
What Adult Foster Care Actually Looks Like
The name throws people off. "Foster care" sounds like something for children. It is not. Adult foster care in Michigan is the state's framework for residential homes where adults receive hands-on support in a home setting.
There are different sizes:
Family homes serve one to six residents. The licensee lives in the home. These are the smallest and most personal settings.
Small group homes serve up to twelve residents. These are residential homes — houses in neighborhoods — with dedicated caregiving staff. This is the category Golden Pines falls into. Our two homes in Troy are licensed adult foster care small group homes, inspected and regulated by LARA.
Large group homes serve thirteen to twenty residents. Still residential in nature but larger.
Congregate facilities serve twenty-one or more. At this size, the environment starts to feel more institutional.
The common thread is that adult foster care homes are actual homes. They are not hospitals. They are not clinical facilities. They are houses where people live and where caregivers provide daily support — help with bathing, dressing, medications, meals, mobility, and the ordinary tasks that become difficult with age or illness.
Why This Matters for Your Family
When you search online for senior care in Michigan, you will find places that range from fully licensed, regularly inspected adult foster care homes to places operating with no state oversight at all. They might look similar on a website. The difference shows up in the details.
A licensed adult foster care home has passed state inspections. Its staff has completed required training. It follows rules about fire safety, medication management, resident rights, and reporting. If something goes wrong, there is a regulatory body with authority to investigate. Families can look up the home's inspection history on LARA's website before they ever walk through the door.
An unlicensed place that calls itself assisted living? None of that applies. I am not saying every unlicensed residence is bad. But I am saying you have no way to verify, and that should matter when you are trusting someone with your parent's daily care.
You can search Michigan's adult foster care database yourself at the LARA website. Enter the facility name or city and you will see the license type, capacity, and any enforcement actions. I encourage every family to do this before making a decision.
The Keyword Problem
Here is something that affects how families find care, and I think it is worth being honest about. Most people searching online type "assisted living near me" or "assisted living in Troy, Michigan." That is the national term. It is what everyone uses.
But in Michigan, the homes that are actually licensed and regulated are called adult foster care homes. If you only search for "assisted living," you might miss some of the best small homes in the state — places that use the official Michigan term rather than the marketing term. And you might find places using the "assisted living" label without any license behind it.
We use both terms because we know families search for "assisted living" and we want them to find us. But officially, Golden Pines is a licensed adult foster care provider. That distinction is not just branding. It means we are held to a standard.
What We Provide as an Adult Foster Care Home
At Golden Pines, our two adult foster care small group homes in Troy provide:
Daily living support. Help with bathing, dressing, grooming, mobility, and toileting — whatever each resident needs, tailored to them.
Medication management. Our caregivers administer and track medications, coordinate with pharmacies, and communicate with families and physicians about changes.
Home-cooked meals. Three meals a day plus snacks, served at the kitchen table. We accommodate dietary needs and preferences.
24-hour supervision. A caregiver is always on site. Not on call. Present.
A real home environment. These are houses in Troy neighborhoods. Residents have their own bedrooms. There is a living room, a kitchen, a sunroom. It looks like a home because it is one.
We are licensed by LARA, inspected regularly, and transparent about our operations. Any family can look up our homes on the state database.
How to Verify Any Home in Michigan
Before you visit any senior care home in Michigan, do this:
- Ask for their license number and license type (adult foster care family home, adult foster care small group, adult foster care large group, or Home for the Aged).
- Search for the facility on LARA's Adult Foster Care / Homes for the Aged lookup tool.
- Review any inspection findings or special conditions.
- If a place cannot provide a license number, or if nothing comes up in the LARA database, ask why.
This takes five minutes and it is the single most important piece of research you can do. A license does not guarantee perfection. But it guarantees accountability, and in this industry, accountability matters.
Finding the Right Home
Families come to us from across the metro area — from nearby in Troy, from Clawson just down the road, from all over Oakland County. Many of them started by searching for assisted living and ended up learning about adult foster care along the way. The families who understand the distinction tend to ask better questions during tours, because they know what to look for and what to verify.
If you are searching for care for someone you love in the Troy, Michigan area, I hope this clears up some of the confusion. The terminology can be frustrating, but the underlying reality is simple: in Michigan, licensed adult foster care homes are where you will find regulated, inspected, accountable residential care.
Golden Pines is one of those homes. If you want to see what that looks like, come visit. Our homes are at 6131 Herbmoor St and 3178 Daley Dr in Troy. Call (248) 266-2738 or email troygoldenpines@gmail.com.