Help for Caring

Help for Caring

Help for Caring (for older people caring for an adult with a developmental disability) is a manual developed under a grant from the Administration on Aging and adapted for The Arc of the United State's project on the National Family Caregiver Support Program. This manual looks at the difference between the developmental disabilities system and the aging network, provides useful tips on implementing a program on aiding older carers, and explores situations that may be encountered by area agencies on aging and local developmental disabilities agencies when finding and attempting to aid older carers. Copies of this manual, originally developed in the late 1990s, have mostly out of print. The manual's text has been slightly updated and adapted for use by agencies involved with the National Family Caregiver Support Program across the United States.

Readers can download the manual, in PDF format, and print out the pages for use. The files available include (each will open in a new window):

Front matter (includes title pages, table of contents and other introductory matter)
Chapters 1-5
Chapters 6-8
Chapters 9-10
Appendices (includes the "Lost Generation" essay by Nancy Breitenbach)

The Table of contents for Help for Caring includes:
Chapter 1:
Why Should Older Carers be Targeted for Assistance? 1

Chapter 2:
Carers of Adults with Developmental Disabilities - Who Are They? 14

Chapter 3:
Adults with Developmental Disabilities - Who Are They? 26

Chapter 4:
Organizing Your Community 33

Chapter 5:
Developing Your Agency's Initiative 44

Chapter 6:
Finding Older Carers 55

Chapter 7:
Working with Older Carers 63

Chapter 8:
Key Issues in Working with Carers 74

Chapter 9:
Cultural Aspects to Working with Carers 85

Chapter 10:
New York Caregiver Assistance Project 98

Appendices 115