My mom is independent, but is not used to living on her own. She's healthy, but has some memory impairment. We are interested in companion living, or roommates for the elderly. We are concerned about frauds and scams, loneliness, socializing and continuing to develop her cognitive ability.
Our best CG has been a private hire.
Our worst CG was an agency hire.
So, despite all the glossy ads, emails, nice phone calls you might get if you contact an agency, you STILL can find really nice, safe CG on your own.
For me, it's a social justice issue: the agencies only pay their workers $10/hr, but the private ones we have paid $15-25/hour. So if you go private, you are actually paying a good wage.
Yes there is paperwork for IRS and you need to have a good umbrella insurance policy, but in our experience, the private ones are WAY better.
(Just ask yourself, who in their right mind would work for $10? desperate people...if they have any brains, they would go out and do the very same work for much higher pay and also have a say in their working arrangements).