Background Information on the Problem

Currently there are more than 23 million family and informal caregivers nationwide, and that number is only increasing. Most (85%) have no outside paid help, and 72% of caregivers are women according to the Administration on Aging.

The term caregiver refers to anyone who provides assistance to someone else who experiences limitations in activities of daily living (ADLs) and/or instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs): a husband who has suffered a stroke; a wife with Parkinson's disease; a mother-in-law with cancer; a grandfather with Alzheimer's disease; a son with traumatic brain injury from a car accident; a child with muscular dystrophy; a friend with AIDS.

Informal caregiver and family caregiver are terms that refer to unpaid individuals such as family members, friends, neighbors and volunteers who provide help or arrange for help. These individuals can be primary or secondary caregivers, full time or part time, and can live with the person being cared for or live separately. They provide help with household chores, finances, or with personal or medical needs. This definition does not include formal caregivers who are paid care providers associated with a service system.

There are two general federal funding categories of “family caregivers”:

Grandparents and relative caregivers of children 18 years of age and younger, including grandparents who are sole caregivers of grandchildren. The children being cared for by these caregivers (for which there is federal and state funding available) are affected by mental retardation or who have developmental disabilities [MR/DD] often due to being exposed in utero to HIV/AIDS or drugs; and
Family caregivers of older adults, which encompasses non-relatives.

Statistics on Caregiving of Distressed Children

The number of children being raised by extended families has been on the rise dramatically. 2000 Census data reports that 5.9 million households consisted of family caregivers, 4.4 million of which were grandparents providing care. (US Census, 2000) Notoriously, little or no support has been offered in terms of public assistance to the low-income family caregivers in this situation.

Characteristics of these families appear in the table below:

CHARACTERISTICS OF GRANDPARENT HOUSEHOLDS CARING FOR MINOR GRANDCHILDREN, 2001

Characteristics	Grandparent <Age 60 or Child Age 19+		NCFSP Target Population	Total Grandparent Households	Grandparent <Age 60 or Child Age 19+	NCFSP Target Population	House‑ holders Age 60+
Total		933,595	326,621	1,260,216	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Number of Grandchildren
1		715,745	210,735	926,480	76.7%	64.5%	NA
2		154,512	74,568	229,080	16.6%	22.8%	NA
3+		63,339	41,317	104,656	6.8%	12.6% *	NA
Sex
Male		306,815	138,491	445,307	32.9%	42.4%	49.9%
Married		234,933	129,898	364,832	76.6%	93.8%	72.2%
Female		626,780	188,129	814,910	67.1%	57.6%	50.1%
Married		167,789	52,131	219,920	26.8%	27.7% *	20.7%
Race/Ethnicity
White non-Hispanic		464,202	150,640	614,842	49.7%	46.1%	80.1%
Black non-Hispanic		282,815	126,335	409,150	30.3%	38.7%	9.2%
Hispanic		128,279	39,429	167,708	13.7%	12.1% *	5.4%
Other		58,300	10,216	68,516	6.2% *	3.1% *	5.3%
Metropolitan Area Status
Central city		226,037	114,356	340,393	24.2%	35.0%	22.6%
Suburbs		321,353	103,951	425,304	34.4%	31.8%	39.4%
Non-metropolitan area		386,205	108,314	494,519	41.4%	33.2%	38.0%
Education
Less than high school		325,525	152,201	477,726	34.9%	46.6%	28.1%
High school graduate		357,423	99,521	456,944	38.3%	30.5%	33.7%