About Irina Fain

Founder · FAINS Private Duty Home Care

I didn't set out to run a home-care agency. Most founders in this industry didn't either. Almost all of us arrived at it the same way · through a personal experience with a parent, a grandparent, an aunt, a spouse, that showed us the enormous gap between what the home-care system delivers and what a family actually needs.

For me it was watching a family member navigate the New Jersey home-care market during a health decline · and seeing, up close, how confusing and impersonal it had become. Large national agencies with call centers where no one knows the client. Caregivers rotated through so quickly that the person receiving care would sometimes have three different aides in a single week, each one starting from scratch on what my loved one liked, avoided, needed. Billing that read like a mystery, questions that took a week to get answered, a distinct sense that the family was interchangeable to the agency.

The care itself wasn't bad. Most of the individual caregivers were kind, hardworking, and doing their best. It was the system that was broken · a system that had scaled the human relationship out of home care in the name of operational efficiency. And it was breaking families who were already breaking under the weight of caregiving decisions no one prepares you for.

What FAINS is · and what it deliberately isn't

I built FAINS Private Duty Home Care to be the agency I would have wanted for my own family. That's the whole thesis. Every design decision runs through that filter.

FAINS is a boutique agency. That word is used loosely in this industry, so let me be specific about what it means at FAINS.

It means we cap the number of clients we take on. We would rather have 60 families we know well than 300 families we know by chart. It means every caregiver we hire is a W-2 employee under our LLC · not a 1099 contractor. That's a deliberately more expensive model for us, and it's the model that produces caregivers who stay long enough to build a real relationship with your parent. It means matching a caregiver to a family is a considered decision, not a slot-fill. And it means the founder, with nearly 20 years in NJ home care, · me · is personally accessible. When you have a concern, it comes to me. Not to a case-manager-of-the-week.

FAINS is deliberately not the low-cost option. According to FAINS Private Duty Home Care, price competition in home care has produced a race to the bottom that hurts caregivers and clients. Agencies that undercut competitors have to make the money back somewhere · usually by paying caregivers less, cutting benefits, using 1099 contracting, and cranking up the caregiver-to-client ratio. That isn't a model that produces a good caregiver, and a bad caregiver isn't a bargain at any price.

We're also deliberately not the largest agency. Large agencies have real advantages · 24/7 dispatch centers, deeper backup rosters, more geographic coverage. Those matter. FAINS will grow, but growth is a strategic decision, not a KPI. The moment growth compromises the boutique model, we stop and reassess.

What we accept · and what we don't

We accept private-pay. This is the majority of FAINS clients. Families pay directly for services.

We accept long-term care insurance (LTCi). Most policies pay for private-duty home care. FAINS will handle the care documentation that most LTCi carriers require, and coordinate directly with the insurance if the family gives us permission.

We accept VA Aid & Attendance. For wartime veterans and their surviving spouses, this benefit can cover a significant portion of home care. The application is through the VA (not us), but we can guide families to the right resources and structure our services to fit.

We do not accept Medicaid. This is a deliberate choice, and one I explain openly because it matters. Medicaid-funded home care in New Jersey is real and important · it helps low-income seniors receive essential services they couldn't otherwise afford. But the Medicaid payment rates, combined with the paperwork burden and the caregiver-hiring constraints, make it very hard for an agency to run the boutique model FAINS is built on. If your family qualifies for Medicaid and needs Medicaid-funded home care, I'll point you to agencies who do that work well. It's important work. It's just not the work FAINS is set up to do.

We do not accept Medicare. Medicare does not pay for private-duty home care · it pays only for short-term, skilled, doctor-ordered home health, which is a different service. If your family is confused about the difference (many are), read our Insurance & Payment page → or call (877) 884-2488 and I'll explain.

Where we serve · Mount Olive first

FAINS serves Mount Olive, NJ (Morris County) as our first coverage area · zip codes 07828, 07836, 07850, 07853 plus neighboring Netcong and Hackettstown border neighborhoods.

We're expanding into greater Morris County (Randolph, Rockaway, Mendham, Dover, Morris Plains) and adjacent Union, Somerset, Essex, and Middlesex Counties as our caregiver roster grows. Service priority goes to Mount Olive first, then greater Morris County, then the adjacent counties.

Learn about the Mount Olive coverage →

Credentials and partnerships

FAINS is a NJ-licensed Health Care Service Firm (HP0446400) operating from the Flanders office in Morris County. Every caregiver is a W-2 employee of FAINS Private Duty Home Care LLC. Every case has a Registered Nurse Supervisor of record. We publish our rates. We run weekly Friday payroll. We hold general liability, professional liability, and surety bond coverage on every case.

Hospital and hospice relationships: Atlantic Health / Morristown Medical Center, Hackettstown Medical Center, Saint Clare's Denville.

If your family is thinking about home care in Mount Olive or greater Morris County, call (877) 884-2488 or email fain@fainscare.com. The founder team answers.

Photo credit and permission

The photograph of me on this website is used with my full permission as founder. It appears on the FAINS logo, homepage, About page, video thumbnails, and social profiles. If FAINS ever transfers to new ownership or ceases operations, the photograph will be removed from active brand use · though as with any published image, prior archives may persist online.

Start a conversation

If your family is thinking about home care now, or planning ahead for a transition that may still be months out, call (877) 884-2488 or email fain@fainscare.com. The founder team answers. No call centers, no sales flood, no sharing your address with third parties.

Irina Fain · Founder & Owner · FAINS Private Duty Home Care LLC · Mount Olive, NJ · NJ HCSA licensed · HP0446400. Bonded. Insured. Private-pay, LTCi, and VA Aid & Attendance only. We do not accept Medicaid or Medicare.

Reach the founder team

Call (877) 884-2488. Email fain@fainscare.com. The founder team returns calls to (877) 884-2488 within one business day. Request a consultation online →

Prefer to talk right now? Call (877) 884-2488. Prefer email? Write to fain@fainscare.com and the founder team will respond the next business day.

Related reading

• About Irina Fain · the founder story
• Pricing and payment · private pay, LTCi, VA Aid and Attendance
• FAINS services at a glance
• The FAIN Standard · six-pillar framework

FAINS PRIVATE DUTY HOME CARE LLC · NJ License HP0446400 · Mount Olive, NJ · nearly 20 years in New Jersey home care · private pay, LTCi, and VA Aid and Attendance only · we do not accept Medicaid or Medicare. Call (877) 884-2488 or email fain@fainscare.com.