Eighty kilometres between you and your parents do not change your responsibility – only how you find out what happened today.
Most guides assume that care takes place in the same household. In many families it is different: the children live where the work is, the parents where they have always lived. Between the two lie eighty kilometres, sometimes four hundred.
Caring from a distance is therefore less a question of strength than of information. If you cannot see how the day went, you cannot decide whether a trip is necessary. And if you have to phone round every time, you only learn what someone happens to remember.
The home care service, family and neighbours write in the same documentation. In the evening you read what happened – medication, meals, anything unusual. No call-back needed.
A fall sensor and a bed-exit alarm report automatically. They need no button press and do not wake anyone with a check-up call.
When the assessment comes, the documentation is already there – instead of having to be reconstructed from memory within four weeks.
| Level | Care allowance § 37 SGB XI | In-kind care benefits § 36 SGB XI | Relief allowance § 45b SGB XI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Care level 1 | — | — | 131 € |
| Care level 2 | 347 € | 796 € | 131 € |
| Care level 3 | 599 € | 1.497 € | 131 € |
| Care level 4 | 800 € | 1.859 € | 131 € |
| Care level 5 | 990 € | 2.299 € | 131 € |
Monthly amounts, as of 2025. Care allowance and in-kind care benefits can be combined; the relief allowance is earmarked and is reimbursed, not paid out.
Care allowance under § 37 SGB XI is paid to the person in need of care, who can pass it on to their carers. What matters is that care is ensured – not how many kilometres away you live.
Through shared documentation. If the home care service, the neighbour and family all write in the same record, you can see in the evening what happened during the day – instead of having to phone round.
That is what sensors that trigger without a button press are for: a fall sensor and a bed-exit alarm raise the alarm even when someone can no longer call for help.
For a short time, yes: up to ten working days of care leave in an acute situation under the Caregiver Leave Act (Pflegezeitgesetz), with care support allowance. Longer periods of leave are covered by care leave (Pflegezeit) and family care leave (Familienpflegezeit).
Your local care support centre (Pflegestützpunkt) arranges help, care counselling under § 7a SGB XI is free, and the relief allowance under § 45b SGB XI can pay for everyday support and household help.
Care-Assistant keeps the care diary digitally: entries in seconds, evaluation according to the six modules of the assessment, report as a PDF for the long-term care insurance fund and the Medical Service (MD).
€9.50 per month, cancel anytime. incl. 19% VAT