North Miami-Dade News

Reps. María Elvira Salazar, Lois Frankel, and Barbara Lee have introduced a bipartisan resolution to recognize November 11-17, 2024, as National Caregiving Youth Week. This initiative aims to honor young individuals under the age of 18 who provide crucial care for their family members.

Rep. Salazar emphasized the importance of acknowledging these young caregivers: “Our country is home to millions of kindhearted youth who care for family members that need their help. I am honored to co-lead this resolution recognizing caregiving youth whose sacrifices humble and inspire all of us.”

Caregiving youth are defined as children and adolescents under 18 who act as primary or secondary caregivers for family or household members with chronic illnesses, disabilities, frailty, or other health conditions requiring regular assistance. The estimated number of caregiving youth in the United States exceeds five million.

The resolution seeks to:

- Support the designation of National Caregiving Youth Week.

- Recognize caregiving youth in the United States as an underserved and underrecognized population.

- Encourage educators, policymakers, healthcare professionals, and others to become more familiar with the work, needs, and contributions of caregiving youth.

- Support federal initiatives to provide updated nationwide research on caregiving youth.

The American Association of Caregiving Youth supports this resolution.

Rep. Frankel highlighted the sacrifices made by these young individuals: “All over the country, there are young people who set aside their own needs—studying, extracurricular activities, and time with their friends—to serve as caregivers for members of their family who may be elderly, ill, or disabled.”

Rep. Lee pointed out the challenges faced by many caregivers from families of color or low-income communities: “Today, there are millions of people across our country that serve as the primary caregivers for their family members that need extra support – and many of these caregivers are from families of color or low-income communities."

Dr. Connie Siskowski from AACY stated: “More than 5.4 million caregiving youth in the U.S. remain largely invisible... They deserve and need formal support and accommodation within systems of education and healthcare.”

Congresswoman Salazar has also introduced bills like the Improving Retirement Security for Family Caregivers Act (H.R. 9765) and Catching Up Family Caregivers Act (H.R. 9764) aimed at supporting caregivers financially.