Raising Kids, Caring for Parents

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Raising kids while caring for aging parents is more common than ever—and often overwhelming. We talk with Robyn Wind, the GRAND Voices Support Coordinator for the National Center on Grandfamilies at Generations United, about the realities of sandwich generation caregiving and practical ways foster, adoptive, and kinship families can find support. 

In this episode, we discuss:

Can we start with a working definition of the term “sandwich generation”?How have you seen that definition evolve in recent years? From your work with the National Center on Grandfamilies and Generations United, what are you seeing right now that suggests this is becoming a bigger issue? What are the most common pressures you hear caregivers talk about?Where do you see caregivers feeling the most “pulled apart” between generations for whom they are caring? What are the moments when they feel like they can’t meet everyone’s needs at once?Are there differences in how this shows up for: 
Parents of young children vs. teens? Kinship caregivers or grandparents raising grandchildren? 
Many of our listeners are already parenting children with trauma or complex needs. How does that layer onto sandwich caregiving? Do you see unique challenges for kinship caregivers who may already be caring for grandchildren and are now also caring for aging spouses or siblings? What are some ways systems unintentionally fail these families? Where do they tend to fall through the cracks? What would better support look like if systems were truly designed for multigenerational families? What are the early signs that a caregiver is stretched too thin and at risk?What does realistic self-care actually look like in this season of life? How do you advise the caregivers you support to balance guilt or feelings of inadequacy, given that there is SO much need on both sides of their sandwich?What supports should caregivers try to put in place early? How can families share this sandwich-caring experience more effectively, instead of having one person carry it all? What resources or programs from Generations United should caregivers know about? What strengths do you see in sandwich generation families that we don’t talk about enough? 

Resources:

'Sandwich generation' caregivers caught between two generations in needCaring for Those Who Are Caring for Everyone: The Sandwich Generation Generations UnitedGrandfamilies.orgGKSNetwork.orgGrandfamilies & Kinship University - Generations United

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