State Legislation, Policy & Reports

California: Senate Passes Family Caregiving Nondiscrimination Legislation

On May 31, 2007, the California State Senate passed a bill (S.B. 836) which would add "familial status" to the list of prohibited bases for employment discrimination under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The intent is to protect workers who may have family care responsibilities outside of work, including parenting duties or caring for an elderly parent, from being denied a promotion, a pay raise, or otherwise discriminated against at work. The bill is now being debated in the state Assembly. For more information, visit:

California Legislature

Hawaii: Increased Funding for Family Caregiver Support and In-Home Services

On May 24, 2007, lawmakers in Hawaii adopted legislation (H.B. 807) to expand "kupuna care," the state's long-term care program that supports adults age 60 and older and family caregivers. The new law appropriates $500,000 each for Fiscal Year (FY) 2007-2008 and FY 2008-2009 to expand in-home and access services to older adults who need assistance in order to remain living at home and support services, including respite, training, education and counseling, for family caregivers. For more information, visit:

Hawaii Legislature

Massachusetts: New Online Resource for Older Adults and Family Caregivers

Coastline Elderly Services, Inc., the Area Agency on Aging in New Bedford, Massachusetts, has recently launched a new website for older adults, people with disabilities, family caregivers and service providers in the New Bedford area called "Network of Care." The website is available in multiple languages and provides information about long-term care services with links to resources at the local, state, and national levels. It also contains information about assistive devices, current state and federal legislation and a library of articles on a range of issues - including those specifically related to caregivers. Similar Network of Care websites are already available in parts of California, North Carolina, and Oregon. For more information, visit:

Network of Care

Federal Legislation, Policy & Reports

Balancing Act Would Support Paid Leave Programs and Expand FMLA

On May 17, 2007, Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) reintroduced the Family and Workplace Balancing Act of 2007 (H.R. 2392), which includes a number of provisions to help working families. For example, the bill would offer grants to state or local governments to help pay for projects that provide wage replacement for eligible workers who need time off for family caregiving responsibilities, including new parents and those caring for an ill family member. The bill would also expand job protection granted by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to workers whose employers have 15 or more employees; currently only workers at companies with 50 or more employees are protected. For more information, visit:

Thomas

CDC Study Highlights Health and Circumstances of Caregivers in North Carolina

A new study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides data on the health and circumstances of caregivers and care recipients in North Carolina in 2005. It revealed that those caregivers were more likely to be women (59.5%) and had "significantly poorer health compared to those not in a caregiving role." It also showed that caregivers were more likely to have mental stress than non-caregivers - nearly one in three caregivers (29.9%) reported stress and 27.9% reported that they did not have enough time for themselves or their family. This study is based on the Caregiver Module for the Behavioral Risk Factor and Surveillance Survey (BRFSS), which is being administered in Hawaii, Kansas, Rhode Island, and Washington in 2007. For more information, visit:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

International News

Cambodia: Study Finds Older Adults Are Often Expected to Care for Adult Children with HIV/AIDS

The April 2007 issue of the Asia-Pacific Population Journal published the findings of a study by Dr. John Knodel and Dr. Zachary Zimmer which examined knowledge and attitudes related to HIV/AIDS among adults age 60 and over in Cambodia, and their willingness to provide care to a relative with AIDS, often their adult children. The article, "Older Persons' AIDS Knowledge and Willingness to Provide Care in an Impoverished Nation: Evidence from Cambodia," revealed that many Cambodians believe it is the parents' responsibility to provide care to an adult child with AIDS and that older adults' willingness to provide care to a family member increases with their level of correct knowledge about HIV/AIDS. The Asia-Pacific Population Journal is a publication of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. For more information, visit:

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

Research Reports & Journal Articles

Study Finds that Increased State Spending on HCBS Decreases Nursing Home Admission among Seniors without Adult Children

An article published in the May 2007 issue of The Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences (Volume 62B, Number 3) revealed that older adults without adult children had less risk of going into a nursing home if they lived in a state that invested more money in home and community-based services (HCBS). Specifically, '"doubling state HCBS expenditures per person aged 65 or older would reduce the risk of nursing home admission among childless seniors by 35%." Dr. Naoko Muramatsu and his colleagues analyzed long-term nursing home admissions between 1995 and 2002. The article is called "Risk of Nursing Home Admission Among Older Americans: Does States' Spending on Home- and Community-Based Services Matter?" For more information, visit:

The Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences

Expectations of Adult Children and Their Parents Differ on Future Care Needs

An article in the June 2007 issue of Journal of Aging and Health (Volume 19, Number 3) revealed findings from a study which examined the perceptions of elder care needs by adults and their parents. The article, "Adult Children and Their Parents' Expectations of Future Elder Care Needs," explained that while adult children and their parents had similar expectations about what their own future care needs would be, adult children had higher expectations about what their parents' care needs would be. The authors, Dr. Helga Walz and Dr. Thomas Mitchell, posit that adults and their parents have "unrealistic optimism" about their future care needs and, as a result, may be inadequately planning for them. For more information, visit:

Journal of Aging and Health

Study Reveals Importance of Quality Communication Between Formal Providers and Family Caregivers

In "Coordination Between Formal Providers and Informal Caregivers," published in the April-June 2007 issue of Health Care Management Review, Dr. Dana Beth Weinberg and her colleagues explore the coordination between formal providers and informal caregivers. The researchers surveyed and measured the interactions between family caregivers and health care and other formal care providers for those who had knee surgery. "This study finds that effective coordination and high-quality communication between providers and caregivers can improve caregiver preparation and, ultimately, provide better outcomes for patients." For more information, visit:

Commonwealth Fund

Conferences & Trainings

NCOA-ASA 2008 Aging in America Conference Call for Presentations

The National Council on the Aging (NCOA) and the American Society on Aging (ASA) are now accepting proposals to present at the 2008 Aging in America Conference, which will be held March 27-30 in Washington, DC. NCOA and ASA are looking for fresh ideas and innovative presentations, including those that feature a proven best-practice program, focus on public policy issues or otherwise provide tools and resources for those in the aging network. Submissions must be submitted by June 30, 2007. For more information, visit:

NCOA-ASA Aging in America Conference

Elder Care/Work Balance Conference in San Francisco July 27

Author and elder care/work balance expert John Paul Marosy will present a train-the-trainer conference entitled "Elder Care and Work: Finding the Balance" in San Francisco, California on July 27, 2007. FCA is hosting this event, the only one of its kind on the West Coast this year. Community agency staff, human resource professionals, and trainers will learn how to present and market seminars that educate and empower employed family caregivers. Space is limited, and the cost of the all-day conference is $249 ($239 for Early Bird Registrations received by June 27). To register, contact Mr. Marosy directly via email at jpmarosy@bringingeldercarehome.com or by phone at (508) 854-0431. For more information, visit:

Bringing Elder Care Home

Funding, Media & Miscellaneous

"Cross-Country Vigil for a Dying Parent"

An article by journalist Susan Warren in the May 24, 2007 edition of the Wall Street Journal described the hardships that many adult children face when they live far away from a sick or dying parent. The article highlights the story of three adult children in one family and the challenges they faced in their jobs, relationships, and finances as they spent months going back and forth across the country to visit and care for their dying mother. Warren notes that the children relied on family leave policies, in-home care services, and other family caregiver support programs and policies as long-distance caregivers. For more information, visit:

Wall Street Journal