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Registering as a Home Care Aide (HCA) in California

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Registering as a Home Care Aide in California is a requirement in order to work with any home care / senior care agency in the state of California. The good news is that you only have to do this once to work at any licensed home care organization in the state. You only need to renew it every 2 years.

Many agencies won’t even interview you unless you have it so let’s get started!

We’ve done this ourselves with the state’s documentation and this guide covers the most common places people get stuck. We will help you get you through it faster and more easily. Check out our video in this blog for a more in-depth step-by-step process on how to register.

Common places where applicants get stuck 

  • Creating a Guardian profile

  • Inputting Agency Pin Number

  • Is your CDSS Accreditation check cleared?

  • Completing the HCA payment & Submitting your application

  • Finding your HCA application # & CDSS Live Scan Form

Creating An HCA Guardian profile 

  1. Go to this website: https://guardian.dss.ca.gov/applicant

  2. You then will be taken to the “Register As New User” page. Simply fill out all of the required information.

    • The “Background Check ID” section only applies if you have already done a background check.

  3. Once you have created your new account. You then will receive an email sending over a temporary password.

    • Open the email and copy the temporary password.

Inputting The Home Care Agency Pin Number 

  1. You will be asked to input an “Agency Pin number”

    • If you are registering as an independent home care aide or have yet to receive a job offer from an agency, simply input the pin for “Independent home care aides” which is -> R38XKSPE

    •If you have been offered a job by a local Home Care Agency, simply reach out to them and ask for their “Agency Pin”.

Is your CDSS Accreditation check cleared?

  1. Once you’ve filled in the address section, you then will be taken to a page titled “Registry Information.” This section will inform you if you have been cleared to complete the following steps.

    • If this section states that you are “not cleared” /”denied“/ or “Incomplete” this means you have answered the previous question untruthfully, you have answered them incorrectly, or you have skipped a question. Simply go back and check that you have answered them truthfully.

Completing the HCA payment & Submitting your application

  1. This payment is required by the State of California to register as a Home Care Aide.

  2. Once you have submitted payment, please take a screenshot of your invoice to keep for your records since many home care agencies in CA will reimburse you after you have worked for their company for some time.

    • Once done click the <Return to Guardian> button at the bottom of the invoice. You will be redirected back to the Guardian page and click <next>

  3. Lastly, you will be given an “Application Summary.” Simply verify that the application information is correct.

Finding your HCA application # & CDSS Live Scan Form

  1. Once you have paid & submitted your application. You need to find your application number.

  • In this section, you will see your “Application #.” SAVE THIS ID number. You will need this ID number when you are applying for a home care agency.

  • This number identifies your application within the Guardian system. You will not be sent this ID number personally, so saving it from the start is the best way to ensure you do not lose it.

Finding your CDSS Live Scan Form

  1. Once you have saved your Application #. You then need to click the <CDSS Live Scan Form> link.

    • The form will look exactly like the photo below, but in your form, all of the information will be pre-filled from your initial application submission.

    • You will notice that Section 8 is not filled out in your form. Section 8 will be completed by the Live Scan operator.

  2. Download this PDF form and save it to your files. You will need to bring this in when you get fingerprinted at a Live Scan location.

Check out our part 2 video here

  • We cover how to find a fingerprinting location near you

  • Understanding your Background Check results

  • How to find your HCA PER ID #

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