Family Support Dialogue Browse Popular ideas

I have had over 13 calls from Seniors taking care of their parents. Trying to leave them in their home and still live close by. Some have hired caretakers to come during the day and night. But they always have a time, when the Hired person can't come in a take care of Mom or Dad. Then they call me and ask if I know of someone who could come in at last min. and sit with their parent. I propose to set up a Temporary... more »

There is a dearth of research on the expanded definition of “family” and how LGBT people provide care for each other, and the people they love often without benefit of legal protections, or blood ties. Including questions about sexual orientation, gender identity and non-biological support dyads would be crucial to learning more about what those networks look like, and need in terms of support.

From the perspective of a busy general pediatrician, what I believe U.S. families need is all described in my 2/20/15 article for The Hill, "Let's get smarter about preventing developmental-behavioral problems". Please read my article and share it on FB, Twitter and other social media outlets...

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/233131-lets-get-smarter-about-preventing-developmental-behavioral

Research on whether and/or how much disparity exists between the impact of family caregiving on low wage workers versus high wage workers.

As caregivers, our family members couldn't always be available to attend medical appointments along with our parents. We all lived out of town or out of state. Our parents had some memory loss, so they couldn't always understand the information from the medical providers, nor relay the information to us after an appointment. We would have appreciated a service where we could hire someone to attend the medical appointments... more »

As a caregiver and DHCPOA I would like to start a conversation and bring about policy changes to have advanced directives give greater instructions to the people who are to carry out the individuals wishes as to what to do if XYZ happens, not just, withhold nutrition and hydration if I'm terminally ill. Give deeper instructions, who do you want to provide caregiving for you if you should need it? Do you expect your family... more »

In the State of California there is a rarely used Family Code that states the "The father and mother have an equal responsibility to maintain, to the extent of their ability, a child of whatever age who is incapacitated from earning a living and without sufficient means."
I recently used this law to win continued child support for both of my 18 & 20 year old children with mental illnesses.
Research on this law could... more »

Welcome to the National Dialogue on Family Support. We look forward to your ideas, comments, and hearing what topics are most important to you!

Create an online database of resources, caregivers, where to apply for assistance, organizations that provide assistance, day programs, after school programs and summer camps.

Also, provide funding for people to start more of these programs as they are sadly lacking here in Tennessee!

I am working toward my Master's degree in Nursing of Populations. My research focus is the health literacy of family caregivers. There is almost nothing about this in the literature. Older family caregivers are more likely to have lower health literacy; cognitive, hearing and vision deficits; stress; chronic health conditions, etc. All of these factors, and more, can impact one's health literacy. Healthcare professionals... more »

High end resources are well marketed. Those who need free or low cost options often are unable to identify them. Social workers in the community are mostly unaware of faith based and small grant and/or institutional services. How can this information be better understood by caregivers and those who advise them?

would like to see more research (and then knowledge to practice) about the factors that most impact the development of expectations by parents/siblings/family members for their loved one with a disability (is it parent to parent support? simply access to internet information? a teacher or rehab counselor?)

As a new generation of individuals with autism comes of age, I would like to see research regarding mentoring programs for teens and young adults with ASD. How can we promote mentoring programs within the autism community? How can we work to establish positive role models for youngsters with ASD? What kind of training and support is needed to make these programs effective?

What caregiver characteristics, if any, will help the delay of progression of Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia in Latinas/os?

What are effective/efficient ways to provide support to Latina/o family caregivers that provide care to a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia?