Author: Elizabeth Olson

Dr. Elizabeth Olson of the University of North Carolina and Mr. Martin Hunnicut, in collaboration with the American Association of Caregiving Youth and the Triangle J Area Agency on Aging has been approved for a Tier II engagement award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The award represents continued support for the project titled: Bookend Caregiving: Building Networks for Comparative Research with Youth Caregivers and Older Adults. Find more information about the network on the project website: https://bookendcaregivers.web.unc.edu/

In the Star Tribune (June 25, 2016), Chris Serres reports on youth caregivers and some of the barriers that they face at home and in school. CYRC member Melinda Kavanaugh is also referenced.

From The Blog, Huffington Post (June 25, 2016), Jason Resendez draws attention to Alzheimer’s impact on communities of color and the rising trends among Millennial caregivers. And from NPR (June 3, 2016), a story about a 26 year old Latina woman who has been caregiving for her mother since she was 16.

Feylyn Lewis, PhD researcher at the University of Birmingham, UK, and mental health counselor has spent the last year researching the experiences of young adult caregivers in the U.S. Read her most recent reflections in the Huffington Post: Do All Caregivers Matter?

We are grateful that Jane E. Brody has given some important attention to youth caregivers in the New York Times wellness blog this week: Supporting Children Who Serve as Caregivers. As so many of the comments to the article reflect, child caregiving is an important part of both the historical and contemporary care landscape in the United States.

This collaboration builds from a workshop held in Chapel Hill, NC, in May 2015, which brought together researchers, educators, and advocates who work with caregiving youth and their families. Thanks to an interdisciplinary seed grant from the UNC Odum Institute, Elizabeth (Betsy) Olson (UNC-Geography) and Crystal Wiley-Cene (UNC-Internal Medicine)  invited participants from the fields of nursing, social work, education, and medicine to build networks and identify research priorities and opportunities.

This site has been designed in order to facilitate the work of CYRC partners and to act as a digital interface for existing and emerging research on youth caregiving. The site will be populated throughout the summer, and we encourage you to get in touch if you are interested in CYRC and the activities of its partners. With questions or interests, please contact Betsy at eaolson@email.unc.edu