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November is National Family Caregivers Month!
On Oct 31, President Biden wrote a proclamation for Family Caregivers Month. Biden wrote, “ During National Family Caregivers Month, we honor the Americans who lift our communities and our Nation by providing dignified, professional, and invaluable care to the people we cherish the most.” He spoke of the vital work that we do caring for our family members — our aging parents, our children, and our family members with disabilities. He reiterated the need for increased access to services and support.
The majority of family caregiving work in the United States is unpaid. Several parents with children with disabilities have made the tough choice of forgoing their career and educational goals, and many are launched into poverty out of necessity. When you have a child with high needs, holding a regular job becomes impossible. Missing work for appointments or illness usually results in termination, and the cycle of poverty continues.
While being a Family Caregiver is a labor of love, it is a full or part-time commitment based on need, and for many of us with high-needs children, it is lifelong. Making the hard choices of milk or gas, a co-pay or the electric bill, new shoes, or a haircut adds to the overwhelm. Not to mention the social isolation. Being in a neurotypical landscape with a neurodivergent child is challenging, and staying at home is…
