I had not heard of Caregiving Youth Project. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
We heard here from one teenager who was the caregiver for their very sick and very difficult to get along with mother. She had dropped out of high school. Her mother was no longer working but she was going to the casino which she had her daughter drive her to and wasted the money her mom's sister was sending them for support. She sounded like she was not only so deep over her head but also in a situation that child protective services would consider a very bad environment possibly needing for her to be removed from the house and her mother being cared for some other way.
We once heard from a teenager who had found it necessary to quit school to take care of her grandmother who later was sent to a nursing home which the teenager felt extremely guilty about.
We've had stories of other teenagers who were taking care of a grandparent because the teenager's parents did not want to take care of them.
Situations where a young child is having to take care of someone, but there is not a healthy adult to take care of them sounds like neglect of the child's safety and care to me. I don't think even a middle school child should be considered old enough.
My have been on full disability since our children were very young. However, we did not need for them to take care of us and I don't see if we had needed such care how they would have been able to even with dropping out of school.
I don't really like the idea of a teenager having to do this. In some ways, to me at least, a teenager who is having to do this is very much like a teenage mother whose whole like has been completely changed which possibly will mean not finishing high school, never going to college, not being able to get a decent job, having to raise a baby and to some degree even herself on her own by herself.
What are these young kids and teenagers going to be able to do with their lives after 15, 20 or so years of being a caregiver? Not much.
Sorry to be so negative about all of this and I don't know a whole lot about it, but just from what I've read here I find it hard to be anything but negative. Possibly, various negative experiences from my own childhood make me feel rather negative about this.
It is hard for caregiving youth and that's why they need support in school, out of school and at home. The US is way, way behind other countries in recognizing and supporting them...and they do need to be cared for, thus the Caregiving Youth Project which needs to be spread throughout America. It is not that they should be caregiving but many system gaps do not provide coverage to help. Thanks to federal support, adult caregivers can access some help however there is no support yet for a child or teen who fulfills the same role.
It does seem wrong for under-age children to be responsible for caregiving duties. If they are doing caregiving for an older adult, then who is taking care of them?
The blanket is a really nice thing to do for young people who are caregivers. But somehow it seems wrong that under-age children are responsible for caregiving duties. Hard enough to do as an adult.
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It’s Not about Being Warm, It’s about Knowing Someone Cares
We heard here from one teenager who was the caregiver for their very sick and very difficult to get along with mother. She had dropped out of high school. Her mother was no longer working but she was going to the casino which she had her daughter drive her to and wasted the money her mom's sister was sending them for support. She sounded like she was not only so deep over her head but also in a situation that child protective services would consider a very bad environment possibly needing for her to be removed from the house and her mother being cared for some other way.
We once heard from a teenager who had found it necessary to quit school to take care of her grandmother who later was sent to a nursing home which the teenager felt extremely guilty about.
We've had stories of other teenagers who were taking care of a grandparent because the teenager's parents did not want to take care of them.
Situations where a young child is having to take care of someone, but there is not a healthy adult to take care of them sounds like neglect of the child's safety and care to me. I don't think even a middle school child should be considered old enough.
My have been on full disability since our children were very young. However, we did not need for them to take care of us and I don't see if we had needed such care how they would have been able to even with dropping out of school.
I don't really like the idea of a teenager having to do this. In some ways, to me at least, a teenager who is having to do this is very much like a teenage mother whose whole like has been completely changed which possibly will mean not finishing high school, never going to college, not being able to get a decent job, having to raise a baby and to some degree even herself on her own by herself.
What are these young kids and teenagers going to be able to do with their lives after 15, 20 or so years of being a caregiver? Not much.
Sorry to be so negative about all of this and I don't know a whole lot about it, but just from what I've read here I find it hard to be anything but negative. Possibly, various negative experiences from my own childhood make me feel rather negative about this.