Even with marginal wage improvements in some counties over the last decade, this is still a profession which attracts too few to meet the need. This is why family members often are the only help available, especially in the vast rural portions of our state. They also know the needs better, and ease issues based around intimate aspects like bathing and bowel/bladder requirements. One of the original purposes when formed under Gov. Reagan was to provide some compensation for family members who gave up gainful employment to care for loved ones. Too much of the caustic rhethoric is driven by a governor who dislikes unions, perpetuated by ambitious DAs and a press corp that often wants to sensationalize the worst aspects of a topic, with the result being self-righteous indignation of people who couldn't fathom having to depend on this service to survive. As an IHSS consumer who serves as advocate for 450,000 fellow recipients statewide, I can only say we deserve better than being abandoned or perceived in terms of the lowest common demoninator.