Local Teen Among Growing Population of Youth Forced to Become Primary Caregivers of Loved Ones
16 year old Leah Harris is a citizen of an unspoken part of our community, youth caregivers. The last few years for the Boca Raton High School junior have been filled with more responsibility than most teenagers must face when the teen became a primary caregiver of her mother, Bette Wilson, who was battling breast cancer.
Leah had to mix her school life and two jobs with caregiving responsibilities such as driving her mother to treatment, picking up medicine, cooking, cleaning and more.
Where are the adults in the family? She was helping them too. He father suffers from strokes, grandmother battles diabetes, grandfather dealing with dementia, diabetes and strokes. She was the family’s only option.
A youth caregiver’s life can be forever altered because their childhood is essentially ended by the illness of someone who should care for them.
Studies show:
- There are 1.4 million caregiving children between the ages of 8 and 18 in this country.
- 22% of high school dropouts site the reason is because they must care for a loved one
- 20% say caregiving forces them to miss school or post-school activities.
Boca Raton-Based Organization Runs First and Only Comprehensive Program to Assist Youth Caregivers.
Leah says she found hope, direction and strength through the support of the American Association of Caregiving Youth (www.aacy.org ), a Boca Raton-based organization that helps support the needs of this unspoken population.
Leah says the AACY first provider her with a counselor to help discuss her personal challenges with her unexpected position as a caregiver. She says these sessions gave her strength because she no longer felt like she was the only teen facing life as a caregiver. They helped her refocus on her own future with the help of educational counselors.
Leah says “ they helped me figure out what I would like to do in life and which colleges I would want to attend.” She went on to say the AACY provided her a number of educational resources, including a laptop.
The AACY was founded by Connie Siskowski (recognized as a CNN Hero in 2012) to be the national resource for children who sacrifice their education, health, well-being and childhood to provide care for family members who are ill, injured, elderly or disabled.
Siskowski was inspired to start this unique organization after recalling her experience providing care to her grandfather when she was a child. The AACY looks to expand its programs to support that need, starting in South Florida. Siskowski’s hope is during this holiday season and in 2017 more people will learn about and support these children whose lives become altered by circumstances they can’t control.
