Care Can’t Wait Summit
Family caregivers come in every shape, size, gender, and age. One decade ago, the ‘typical’ caregiver was a middle-aged woman who is raising (or raised) her family and cares for aging parents and relatives. Today we recognize that we have family caregivers of every age from children caring for parents, grandparents caring for disabled grandchildren, parents taking care of adult children, and the traditional adult children caring for their parents. What was labeled as the “Sandwich Generation” is more of a buffet of every generation.
AARP, Genworth, Pew Trust, and many caregiving organizations identify more than forty million Americans as family caregivers. One-quarter of today’s caregivers are millennials and forty percent are male. Our national birth rate has declined which means there are fewer family members to share in the care responsibilities. And life expectancy is the longest in human history with the 85+ generation being the fastest-growing demographic. Additionally, more Americans are working one or more jobs to cover the rising cost of living expenses leaving less free time to help out other family members.
I invite you to join the Care Can’t Wait Summit happening this Saturday, April 10, 2021, on Facebook. This free program features caregiving stories from experts and celebrities. The Summit leaders write “From childcare to paid leave and home and community-based services, we need a care infrastructure that supports us all – across race, age, and ability – to live, work, and care for the people we love. The program will feature stories of family caregivers, care workers, people with disabilities, children, and older people – all of us. We’ll lift up the human experience of caring for others, a story that incorporates resilience, humor, exhaustion, skill, and power.
Care Can’t Wait Summit come from the collaboration of the following organizations: 9to5.org, The Labor Project, Moms Rising, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NARAL, National Partnership for Women and Families, Paid Leave USA, Ponder Latinx, ROC United, SEIU, Times Up Now, For Respect, A Better Balance, The Arc of the United States, American Sustainable Business Council, The Center for Law and Social Policy, Caring Across Generations, American Progress, CLASP, Popular Democracy, Family Values at Work and Main Street Tweets.
