RAISE Family Caregivers Act Initial Report to Congress | ACL Administration for Community Living

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On September 22, 2021, the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Act Family Caregiving Advisory Council delivered its initial report to Congress. It includes a comprehensive review of the current state of family caregiving and 26 recommendations for how the federal government, states, tribes, territories, and communities—in partnership with the private sector—can better Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage family caregivers.

Download the RAISE Family Caregivers Act Initial Report to Congress.

To learn more about how the council developed this report, check out the Implementing the RAISE Family Caregivers Act factsheet.

Read the press release.

Help us spread the word about how to #RAISEcaregivers with this social media toolkit.

5 Priority Areas of the Recommendations

Increased awareness of family caregiving.
Increased emphasis on integrating the caregiver. into processes and systems from which they have been traditionally excluded.
Increased access to services and supports to assist family caregivers.
Increased financial and workplace protections for caregivers.
Better and more consistent research and data collection.

Faces of Family Caregiving

While caregiving affects everyone, caregivers are diverse in backgrounds, needs, and experiences. To ensure the recommendations reflected the priorities and needs of today’s caregivers, the council reviewed over 1,600 public comments in response to a request for information and listened to a series of focus groups convened by Community Catalyst. The council also worked with The John A. Hartford Foundation, the National Academy for State Health Policy, and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) to recruit 26 diverse caregivers from across the nation representing a range of caregiving situations and needs.

During the height of the 2020 pandemic, NAC interviewed the caregivers virtually. Their stories appear throughout the council's report to Congress to illustrate the complexities, demands, and rewards of family caregiving. In this series of short videos, you can hear from each of them about their experiences. Or, click play on the video to meet them as a group.

Inventory of Federal Caregiver Support Programs & Initiatives

The RAISE Family Caregivers Act called for a comprehensive inventory of federal programs that assist family caregivers. As of September 2021, 50+ program descriptions have been collected from federal agencies. The council will use the inventory to increase awareness and understanding about programs to support caregivers and to transparency to avoid duplication of effort when developing the National Family Caregiving Strategy. The inventory will be updated as information becomes available. Learn more about the inventory.

Understanding the Unique Needs of Family Caregivers

The council commissioned multiple studies while drafting this report.

•Medicare and Family Caregivers explores the role of Medicare in supporting caregivers of beneficiaries.

•Medicaid Supports for Family Caregivers examines the strategies states currently use and presents actions the federal government could take to foster the spread of innovative strategies.