The American Association of Caregiving Youth® is the only organization in the United States dedicated solely to addressing Caregiving Youth issues/solutions.
Joined April 2011
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“Why No Child Should Have To Sacrifice School To Care For Their Family” - the hidden crisis facing Caregiving Youth in the United States and the impact caregiving responsibilities can have on children’s education, health, and well-being. forbes.com/sites/weskilgore/…
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American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) retweeted
The UK has spent years identifying young carers, studying their experiences, and putting supports in place. It is still not enough.
New UK research found that young people ages 16 to 25 with caregiving responsibilities are more than twice as likely as their peers to be persistently out of work, education, or training for two years or more. They are also 31% less likely to attend higher education and 37% less likely to earn a degree.
The study starts at 16, when young people begin moving out of secondary school and into further education, training, or work. But many of them have been caring for family members for years by then.
In the United States, we call children under 18 in this role Caregiving Youth. They are a distinct population from young adult caregivers. They face different laws, different practical limits, and different needs.
The responsibilities do not stop at 18. But the category matters.
The United States has not taken even the most basic national steps. We do not routinely ask young people whether they are providing care at home. We do not have a clear picture of who they are. And we have no system to track what happens as they grow up or connect them to support.
That is the starting point. We have not reached it yet.
Read the full article here: phys.org/news/2026-06-young-…
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Dr. Connie Siskowski presented “Caregiving Youth: Hidden in Healthcare” at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
Pictured here with Richard Lindsay, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Internal Medicine and Family Medicine at the UVA Health Sciences Center.
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The May Edition of the Caregiving Youth Project Newsletter is out now!
myemail.constantcontact.com/…
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AACY has been awarded a 2026 Platinum Transparency Rating by Candid, the highest rating offered.
It reflects our commitment to financial accountability and transparency.
app.candid.org/profile/80801…
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Get Your Green On Day!
The AACY team wore green to join this Palm Beach County effort supporting mental health awareness and trauma-informed care. For some Caregiving Youth, mental health awareness is not just a campaign. It is connected to what is happening at home.
#GYGO365
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A Caregiving Youth Project student recently received a care package from Madelene, who lives in Texas and stays in touch with our family specialists.
When she hears that one of our students could use a little encouragement, Madelene pulls together a care package box just for them
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How many Caregiving Youth are there in the United States? A plain language guide: aacy.org/aacy-publishes-plai…
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American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) retweeted
I write about Caregiving Youth almost every day, so I spend a lot of time with the numbers. A few months ago, I was writing something and cited a prevalence number. AI tools kept correcting me. Kept telling me the number had gone down.
It hadn't.
There are several published estimates, and they do not all measure the same thing. Without context, they can look like they contradict each other. They don't.
So I wrote a guide.
It is not an academic paper. It is my attempt, after a lot of research, to understand where AI was getting this from and explain what the major U.S. estimates actually measure, why they differ, and why none of them should be read as evidence of decline.
This is the kind of thing that sounds technical until you think about what it means for the kids. When a population is not counted clearly, it is easier for systems to ignore it.
Children in the United States were directly interviewed for a national Caregiving Youth prevalence study exactly once. In 2005.
It has never been repeated.
That is not because no one cared. It is because this field has been running on too little of everything for a very long time.
Every current number should be understood as a floor, not a ceiling.
The number did not go down.
The guide is on the AACY website.
How Many Caregiving Youth in U.S.?
aacy.org/aacy-publishes-plai…
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American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) retweeted
Pranay Gadikota knows what it means to carry responsibility at home while still trying to be a student.
During high school, Pranay helped support his great-grandmother through a serious illness. That experience shaped his academic path, his advocacy, and the way he thinks about care.
This week, Alachua County Public Schools recognized Pranay as a 2026 U.S. Presidential Scholar Semifinalist. He is one of fewer than 630 semifinalists in the country and one of 25 from Florida.
Pranay is also a National Merit Finalist, the recipient of a $70,000 scholarship from the Education Foundation, and will head to Harvard University later this year. He plans to study neuroscience and ultimately become a doctor.
He has also been a strong voice for Caregiving Youth. Pranay spoke at AACY’s Caregiving Youth Institute Conference and published an op-ed calling on pediatricians to ask young patients directly about caregiving responsibilities at home.
Congratulations, Pranay. We are proud to see your caregiving experience recognized as part of your story, your leadership, and your future.
#CaregivingYouth #Graduation2026 #KidsAreCaregiversToo #Harvard
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American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) retweeted
Caregiving on the Common App: A Step in the Right Direction
open.substack.com/pub/caregi…
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Students are invited to apply for the ECHO Young Carer Anthology Project, a youth-led writing project created by Angela, a Caregiving Youth herself.
Applications close May 17, 2026, at 11:59 PM EST.
Scan the QR code on the flyer or visit instagram.com/projectycan.of… on Instagram.
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The April Edition of the Caregiving Youth Project Newsletter is out now! myemail.constantcontact.com/…
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American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) retweeted
Thank you, Maria Miranda, for bringing Caregiving Youth into the aging conversation so powerfully and for representing this work, and @AACYorg, with such care.
"A week out of attending and presenting at ASA’s 2026 On Aging Conference, and I continue to be happily speechless. I am deeply moved by the acknowledgement that our leaders in aging displayed toward the children that are caring for their older family members.
Even after Brian and I presented in a packed room of engaged leaders, I was approached throughout the week by attendees and people who wished to attend but couldn’t, asking questions and wanting to join in the advocacy effort.
I am looking forward to further engaging with this new community.
Thank you to ASA for an impactful conference, and most importantly, for recognizing the importance of lived experience alongside research. You all truly understand the power in sharing one’s story.
Thank you to everyone that supports caregiving youth! Let’s join together to be a hero to our young heroes.
Looking forward to ASA On Aging 2027!"
#caregivingyouth #onaging2026 #aging #caregivingjourney
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American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) retweeted
I don't know Fernando Mendoza or his family personally, so I won't speak for them.
But most people will see the athlete, the draft pick, the comeback story, the family loyalty. What they may miss is the child who grew up with a parent's serious illness as part of daily life.
Many kids in that role are never identified. They are not supported at school. And far too many never get the chance to show what they could have become.
Fernando's story is extraordinary. But the issue behind it is not rare. Most of the kids who are caregivers never get this kind of outcome.
#CaregivingYouth 🎯 @aakashgupta @HopeLovesCo @AACYorg
"The biggest stage in football, the moment every kid imagines from the second they pick up a ball, and Fernando watched the call from his living room in Florida because his mom Elsa is in a wheelchair and the travel is hard for her. She was diagnosed with MS when he was 4..."
Apr 26
If you pitched this as a screenplay, every studio would reject it for being too on-the-nose.
Fernando Mendoza was a 2-star recruit ranked 2,149th in his high school class. Zero FBS scholarship offers. Not one. He walked on at Cal, fought for a starting job, transferred to Indiana for his senior year, then led them to 16-0 and the first national title in school history. Heisman, Walter Camp, Maxwell, Davey O'Brien, Manning, Big Ten MVP. 41 TDs, 72% completion, 8-to-0 TD-to-INT ratio in the playoffs.
The Raiders took him #1 overall Thursday night. $54.56M fully guaranteed. Only the third player ever to win the Heisman, win a national championship, and go first overall the next spring. Burrow. Newton. Mendoza.
Then he skipped Pittsburgh.
The biggest stage in football, the moment every kid imagines from the second they pick up a ball, and Fernando watched the call from his living room in Florida because his mom Elsa is in a wheelchair and the travel is hard for her. She was diagnosed with MS when he was 4. She wrote a letter to her sons in The Players Tribune in 2015 promising the disease "won't affect us in the ways that matter."
The part nobody talks about: while every other top pick was on stage, Fernando announced the Mendoza Family Fund the same day. $500K personal donation to the National MS Society. Committed to raising $1M over three years. He hasn't taken an NFL snap and he's already given more to a cause than most players donate in a full career.
He and his brother Alberto have already raised $360K through the Mendoza Bros. Burger at BuffaLouie's in Bloomington. At Christmas, he handed four families dealing with MS $10,000 each for an Adidas shopping spree.
Both his parents are children of Cuban refugees who fled Castro. His dad rowed at Brown, won a Junior World Championship in 1987, and played high school football in Miami next to a teammate named Mario Cristobal. Fernando beat his dad's old teammate in the national championship game in January.
Every athlete talks about playing for their family. Fernando actually did it.
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American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) retweeted
“Caregiving youth are out of sight and out of mind,” says @AACYorg founder Connie Siskowski. A nurse and health professional, she noticed a pattern among students, chronically tired, falling behind, assuming adult responsibilities at home. m.facebook.com/story.php?sto…
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AACY is in Austin this weekend for the 42nd Annual ALCA Conference.
Connie T. Siskowski, RN, PhD, joins Jodi O’Donnell-Ames, Patti LaFleur, and Madeline Grace Asbell for the closing session on Caregiving Youth, dementia, and family care.
@aginglifecare #CaregivingYouth
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If you missed this when it came out, it is really worth your time. Read the full report at littledreamers.org.au/wp-con…
#CaregivingYouth #YoungCarers #KidsAreCaregiversToo @littledreamers @KidsCaregiveToo
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Why No Child Should Have To Sacrifice School To Care For Their Family | This article features AACY founder Dr. Connie Siskowski & highlights AACY’s model for identifying and supporting students in @pbcgov
forbes.com/sites/weskilgore/…
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American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) retweeted
Kids Are Caregivers Too. Over 5.4 Million in the United States.
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