NPR's "Morning Edition" Examines Child Caregivers

Main Category: Caregivers / Homecare
Article Date: 28 Mar 2006 - 8:00 PDT

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Approximately 1.4 million U.S. children between ages eight and 18 provide care for parents or other family members, according to a survey last year conducted by the National Alliance for Caregiving and the United Hospital Fund, NPR's "Morning Edition" reports. The NPR segment profiles the experience of Ashleigh Rhys, a 15-year-old in Ohio caring for her mother, who has multiple sclerosis. According to the survey, one-third of child caregivers provide assistance with medications, and nearly two-thirds of child caregivers help with meals, moving in and out of bed, dressing, bathing and using the toilet (Shapiro, "Morning Edition," NPR, 3/23). A partial transcript, which includes a Q&A with Connie Siskowski, nurse and director of the American Association of Caregiving Youth, a new advocacy and support organization, is available online.

The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.

The survey is available online. Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the survey.

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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