A growing phenomenon, youth caregivers need recognition, support

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When then-college student Lumiere 闻名 learned their grandfather, 患有痴呆症的人, 需要帮助, 罗斯蒂克自愿搬去和他一起住.

闻名, 他们/他们/他们的代词是谁的, worked on remote college classes and in between helped their grandmother clean and cook, 还有饲料, dress and change their grandfather – just some of the many responsibilities.

罗斯蒂克并不孤单. 事实上, millions of caregivers are not yet high school graduates.

根据… 全国护理联盟和美国退休人员协会的调查，至少有3个.全国有400万名18岁以下的看护人.

这些数字可能被低估了, 康妮·西斯科夫斯基说, 她是一名护士兼研究员，创立了 美国青年看护协会 (AACY), a Florida-based nonprofit that supports youth caregivers.

事实上, AACY称仅在佛罗里达州, 近300,000 middle school and high school students provide caregiving of some sort.

"Caregiving youth are not on people's radar," Siskowski说. "What they do is behind closed doors, so it's out of sight, out of mind."

She said the opioid crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a greater number of single-parent and single-grandparent households, 哪一个可以“把照顾推到孩子身上”."

Even for families who have the means to hire additional help, 作为一名年轻的看护人可能会付出代价, Siskowski说, 额外的压力会对健康产生负面影响, 导致头痛, 胃病和无法集中精力学习.

"When you're in a period of extreme stress, it's almost impossible to learn," she said. "They have more anxiety and depression than their counterparts who are not caregivers."

事实上， 这项研究由比尔和梅林达·盖茨基金会资助 found 22% of young adults who dropped out of school did so to care for a family member.

Determined to ease the burden of youth caregivers in Palm Beach County, AACY provides a six-week skills building course from sixth grade through high school, 还有家访, 娱乐活动, 辅导, 辅导及其他服务.

“这取决于他们的需求，”西斯科夫斯基说. “这是一种全面的方法. 我们试图提供以青年为导向的喘息机会. It may mean a home health aide, delivered family meals or even home cleaning."

需要做更多的工作, Siskowski说, 识别并为年轻的照顾者提供支持, 无论是情感上还是经济上. She believes providing such support would offer an immediate return on investment.

事实上, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported high school graduates earn more than $8,000 more per year on average than those who do not have a degree.

不像许多年轻的看护人, 闻名的祖父母, 乔治亚和鲍比·菲尔波特, 是否有资源在需要时提供额外的帮助. 附近的家人也提供了支持. 此外，乔治亚是一名退休护士.

“这并不全在我身上, 但还是觉得很重,罗斯蒂克说, who was 22 when they moved in with their grandparents in Griffin, 乔治亚州, 八个月，直到他们的祖父2020年去世.

“有些时刻很艰难, but it was a really beautiful time for me to bond with him when I hadn't really had that time before,他们说. "It was my choice, and it was a choice that I'm happy with."

在适当的支持下, Siskowski believes caregiving can positively impact a young person's life, providing a sense of purpose and helping them to develop better time management, 同理心和其他生活技能.

“这些都是了不起的年轻人，”她说. “支持他们真的很有价值, 对两个孩子来说, 他们的家庭和社会."

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