Ottawa Citizen – What happens when youth, even children, are tasked as caregivers?

While their friends are out living their lives, they are rushing home from school — or missing school — to take care of the medical, emotional and physical needs of parents, grandparents or siblings, with little or no support or even recognition.

Researchers estimate there are upwards of one and a half million young caregivers in Canada, although that is likely an underestimate. That number includes caregivers between the ages of 15 and 30, but some are much younger.

Liv Mendelsohn, executive director of the Canadian Centre of Caregiving Excellence, calls caregivers “the invisible infrastructure holding up our economy.

“Like bridges, roads and buildings, care is what props up families, sustains our economy and holds our communities together,” Mendelsohn said. “It is not a private struggle to bear. It is a shared commitment that binds us together.”