The California Task Force on Family Caregiving recommend better services and supports for family caregivers, as they presented their final report at a July hearing of the California Assembly Committee on Aging & Long-Term Care at the USC Leonard Davis School.
“This report will help California begin to develop an action plan to help caregivers in the state today and to construct a better way to respond in the future,” said Donna Benton, a research associate professor at the USC Leonard Davis School and chair of the 12-person task force focused on addressing the challenges encountered by California’s 4.5 million family caregivers who care for individuals ages 18 and older.
Next steps will be to help advance specific legislative proposals based on the report recommendations, which include addressing limitations in paid family leave laws, improving caregiver training, and increasing access to affordable services.
“We want to continue to have California be an exemplar and to develop innovative ways of addressing caregiving needs, which are only going to increase with the aging of the population,” said Kate Wilber, Mary Pickford Foundation Professor of Gerontology at the USC Leonard Davis School and leader of the USC team administering the AARP California- and Archstone Foundation-funded task force.
The meeting was chaired by Assembly member Ash Kalra and attended by Assembly member Sydney Kamlager-Dove, along with task force experts, caregivers, financial planners, students and other stakeholders.
“Thank you for educating us. We are going to do more,” said Kallra.
