What GAO Found
National data on individuals who care for family members can provide insights into the population of caregivers, but the surveys GAO identified do not allow for accurate estimates of minors who provide informal, often unpaid care to family members (caregiving youth). However, three state-level surveys GAO identified that collected data on caregiving youth showed that middle school students and racial and ethnic minorities played a larger role providing care for a family member compared to other students. According to selected studies, a GAO survey of 43 former caregiving youth and interviews with five of those youth, caregiving youth experience some positive effects from caregiving, but also face several challenges. For example, some respondents to a GAO survey reported experiencing stress and anxiety because of concerns about their family member’s health condition.
Key federal programs that support family caregivers focus on adults and not on caregiving youth. Under the three federal caregiver support programs administered by the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Veterans Affairs (VA), officials told GAO that family caregivers must be adults to receive supports such as counseling, referrals, and respite care. However, according to a 2024 federal register notice issued by HHS, states and service providers may determine when family caregivers younger than age 18 could be eligible to receive supports under at least one federal caregiver support program. States and service providers may be unaware of any flexibilities because the HHS website does not include this information. One of HHS’s objectives in its 2022–2026 Strategic Plan is to support high-quality services for older adults and people with disabilities, and their caregivers. The plan states that to achieve this objective, HHS leverages resources to better address the needs of all caregivers across the age spectrum. Without complete information from HHS on eligible caregivers, states and service providers may not be aware that they have flexibility to provide services to certain family caregivers under 18.