In Home Support for Families Living With Disability in Oregon

There is a kind of help that many Oregon families desperately need and never knew existed. Kangaroo Care exists to close that gap. If you or someone in your family lives with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, or another developmental disability, you likely qualify for in home support that costs you nothing out of pocket, funded through the state of Oregon. The hardest part, as the people behind Kangaroo Care will tell you, is simply that most families have no idea it is there.

Kim and Scott Clement opened Kangaroo Care in 2023, and they did not arrive at this work by accident. They are raising four children, two of whom are neurodivergent, and Scott grew up alongside a brother who needed significant support in an era when families got judgment instead of help. He remembers the hard moments, the public meltdowns read as bad parenting, the sense that there was nowhere to turn. As Scott puts it, he cannot change the past, but he can do something about the future, and helping another parent trade shame for confidence is exactly what Kangaroo Care set out to do.

In Home Care and Daily Living Support for Families

At its core, Kangaroo Care provides trained support workers, called Direct Support Professionals, who come into the home and help with the everyday things that make independent life possible. That can mean assistance with daily living like dressing, grooming, meals, and getting to appointments, or it can mean community time and social connection, a trip to the store or a late movie for someone whose anxiety makes those things hard alone. The goal is never to keep people dependent. It is to help them build toward more independence, and the graduation moments, when someone needs less help than they used to.

For the family caregivers who rarely get a break, there is also relief care, including overnight and full day coverage so a parent can rest knowing their loved one is safe and supported at home. And because these are real people coming into a vulnerable space, Kangaroo Care builds everything around relationship. Rather than rotating whoever is available, they get to know the client first, then recruit and hire a professional specifically matched to that person and family. If you already have a friend or family member who could fill the role, even better, they will bring that person on and handle the training. With a third owner who spent his career in human resources, the matching and hiring is done properly rather than as an afterthought.

The Difference In Home Support Can Make

The outcomes at Kangaroo Care run the full range, from the quietly personal to the genuinely life changing. Sometimes it looks like a milestone most people never think twice about, a shoe tied for the first time, a doctor's appointment made without a wave of anxiety, a first real friendship with the person who shows up each week. Other times it is bigger. The right steady support has helped people who were isolated find their way back into the community, and has meant the difference between stable housing and losing it. The goal is always the same, to help each person move toward the most independent, connected life they can have, and to walk with their family the whole way there.

Help Navigating Oregon Disability Benefits

Knowing the benefits exist is one thing. Getting through the state system to actually receive them is another, and it can take close to a year from start to finish. This is where Kangaroo Care goes well beyond what the reimbursement covers. They hold bilingual open office hours in English and Spanish to help families who do not yet have benefits begin the process, and they walk people through the paperwork, the renewals, and the deadlines so a single missed form does not cost someone months of coverage. It is the kind of hand holding that turns an overwhelming maze into something a family can actually manage.

This is genuinely personal for the Clements, and it shows. Between them, the operation runs on both competence and real care, and they speak with obvious respect for the other local agencies doing this work well.

A Neighbor You Can Lean On, Including Monthly Lego Night

What comes through most about Kangaroo Care is that they see the whole family, not a case number. Support workers often become something close to family themselves, and the team treats each situation with the patience and warmth you would hope for from someone entering your home. For many families, the first conversation is emotional simply because someone is finally saying yes, help is real and you do not have to beg for it.

The welcome extends to the wider community too. On the first Wednesday of every month, Kangaroo Care hosts a Lego night at their Lake Oswego office, held in cooperation with the Connection Club and open to anyone. All the Legos are donated, there are snacks, and kids build whatever they want and take their creations home. It is a small, joyful example of how this team shows up for the community it serves. If your family could use support, or you know a family who could, Kangaroo Care is the neighbor worth knowing.