ACL Resource: Report on Family Caregiver Needs

We share this announcement by the Administration for Community Living because of the important and often unrecognized role played by family caregivers in ensuring the well-being of people with disabilities. ANCOR often advocates for more financial supports for family caregivers to help reduce pressure on Medicaid disability supports, which due to a long-running workforce recruitment and retention crisis cannot meet demand for supports.

“A new report released this week by the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) shares information collected from family caregiver listening sessions. The listening sessions were designed to provide multiple forums for family caregivers to share their challenges and needs, and recommendations for services, supports, and policies to address these needs. This report, which was written by the University of Massachusetts at Boston and Community Catalyst, is a component of the Recognize, Assist, Inform, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Family Caregivers Act of 2017, and is part of ACL’s work to implement the Act.  

The family caregiver listening sessions included a range of diverse caregivers, from teen caregivers to grandparents providing care, and caregivers of varying racial and ethnic backgrounds. The listening sessions directly captured the emotional and financial stresses caregivers experience, and their priorities and concerns, including respite, caregiving education and training, and financial considerations, including direct pay for caregiving, workplace flexibility, and tax policy changes that support caregivers.  

Visit the RAISE Act Family Caregiver Resource and Dissemination Center to read the report.”