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Raleigh Senior Advisor

About Raleigh Senior Advisor

HomeAbout Raleigh Senior Advisor

What we do

We help families across the Raleigh-Durham Triangle -- Wake, Durham, Orange, Johnston, Chatham, Franklin and Harnett counties -- find senior care, and we publish what we can verify about how senior care works in North Carolina. That is the whole business.

How we are paid, stated plainly

Our service is free to families because senior living communities pay us a referral fee when a family we introduce moves in. We think you should know that on the first page you read rather than find it in a footer, because it is the thing most likely to bias a referral service.

Two consequences worth naming. First, we have a financial interest in you choosing a community that pays referral fees, and not every good option does. Ask us about those anyway; we will tell you what we know. Second, the fee does not vary by community in a way that should steer a recommendation, and if an advisor ever pushes a specific building without a reason that makes sense to you, push back.

Our editorial standard

We publish figures we can trace to a primary source. Where a widely-repeated number cannot be traced — metro-specific cost of care data is the clearest example — we say that instead of repeating it. Where a source is disputed, we flag the dispute.

What we are not

  • We are not affiliated with any state health department, department of aging, Area Agency on Aging, or any government agency.
  • We do not provide medical, legal or financial advice.
  • We do not operate, own or manage any senior living community.
  • We do not publish paid reviews or rankings.

Questions families ask

How do I check if an assisted living community in Cary is actually licensed?

Use the NC Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Health Service Regulation (DHSR) Regulated Facilities search at info.ncdhhs.gov/dhsr/facilities/search.asp, which lets you search by county (Wake) or facility name and confirms the current license status, address, and bed capacity for any licensed adult care home. Every community operating as assisted living in Cary must be licensed under N.C.G.S. Chapter 131D and 10A NCAC 13F, regardless of how it markets itself.

Does North Carolina license assisted living facilities as Type A, B, or C like some other states?

No. North Carolina uses a single licensure category called 'adult care home' under N.C.G.S. Chapter 131D and 10A NCAC 13F, adopted by the N.C. Medical Care Commission, rather than an acuity-tiered Type A/B/C system some other states use. A facility can add a Special Care Unit designation to that same license for memory care, but this is not a separate license class.

What's the difference between a 'family care home' and a regular adult care home in Durham?

A family care home is licensed to serve 2 to 6 unrelated residents in a residential-style setting, while a larger adult care home (7 or more beds) operates under the same statute and rules but with a different fee and penalty schedule based on bed count. Both are licensed by DHSR's Adult Care Licensure Section under the identical Chapter 131D / 10A NCAC 13F framework — a family care home is a subset of the adult care home category, not a separate license type.

What has to be disclosed if a memory care unit in Wake Forest calls itself a 'Special Care Unit'?

Under G.S. 131D-8 and 10A NCAC 13F .1300 (the Special Care Unit rules), a facility operating a dementia/Alzheimer's unit must file a disclosure statement with DHSR describing the unit's philosophy of care, staffing and training specific to dementia care, physical environment, admission and discharge criteria, and programming — this disclosure must also be made available to prospective residents and families. The required content and format are published on DHSR's Special Care Unit disclosure page (ncdhhs.gov, ACLS).

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