Are You or Your Client Becoming a Parent To a Parent?

On April 18, 2023, the “Shadow Caregiving System” finally came out of the shadow….at least that’s the hope. President Biden announced the most comprehensive set of executive actions any President has ever taken to improve care for hard-working families while supporting care workers and family caregivers. 

The order includes more than 50 directives to nearly every cabinet-level agency to expand access to affordable, high-quality care, and provide support for care workers and family caregivers.

How big a deal is “Shadow Caregiving System?”

Is there an imminent fix?

Not likely. Combine the lack of available workers to fill a dramatically increasing number of the hands-on jobs, the burnout during the COVID pandemic of trained professionals exacerbating the estimated 1.8 million critical care jobs in need of workers, and the forced departure of productive employees from the paid labor force to take on unpaid-care duties, and you have a massive challenge.

For the first time in history, the US birthrate has dipped below replacement rate while the demographic cohort of aging baby boomers are living longer although not necessarily healthier. The combination puts enormous pressure on senior-care systems, the professional and non-professional workforce, families, communities, employers, and organizations which continue to make up the growing “shadow caregiving system.”