What if the person giving your aging parent a bath, managing their meds, or cooking their meals is just 12 years old? I shine a light on the overlooked crisis of child and teen caregivers—millions of young people in kinship care who take on adult responsibilities far too early, often in silence. These kids don’t just lose their childhoods—they risk their mental health, education, and future. Add to that the rollback of child labor protections across the U.S., and we’re creating a pressure cooker of stress and exploitation. If we really value caregiving, we have to protect the youngest ones doing it. They shouldn’t have to carry what so many adults struggle to hold.
Resources:
Legislation:
Arkansas (2023): Repealed age verification requirements for workers under 16
Iowa (2023–2024): Passed legislation allowing teens to work more hours and in jobs previously restricted for safety reasons
Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin: Introduced similar bills to expand youth labor
Economic Policy Institute (EPI): Reports on deregulation of youth labor laws
National Employment Law Project (NELP): Research and legal challenges to child labor law rollbacks
Department of Labor (Wage and Hour Division): Enforcement statements and child labor trends
Generations United: Research on intergenerational caregiving and youth caregivers
National Alliance for Caregiving: Surveys and statistics on young caregivers
Scholars such as Dr. Diana Pearce (University of Washington) and Dr. Melinda K. Lewis (University of Kansas) have written about hidden labor in low-income households, including caregiving
I have cared for many family members across the life span, experiencing the joys and challenges of child-rearing, the poignance of caring for parents, friends, and elder partners. I realized that I could not handle the stress of family caregiving 24/7/365. It was time for a new approach to caring. My health and happiness were slipping away. This is how Think to Thrive for Caregivers evolved. Let your mind meet your heart so you don’t lose track of your life.
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Transcripts
Deborah Greenhut:
I have a question for you. How old is old enough? We're speaking about children as caregivers today, and it's a subject that doesn't get too much attention as we focus on adults, particularly elderly adults, who are doing caregiving, we're exploring a growing and unsettling trend in caregiving and labor, where children, especially those in kinship care arrangements for their family, they're stepping into adult roles long before they should, and not just at home. Some are also now legally being allowed or pressured to join the workforce. So let's dive in. You might be surprised to learn this, but there are more than 5.4 million children in the United States acting as caregivers today, not babysitters, not chore doers, actual caregivers helping elderly grandparents bathe, feed themselves, or manage medications, medications they might not be able to manage for themselves, but they're managing for their grandparents. Let that sink in. So many of these children are living in what's called a kinship care arrangement, and this means they're not being raised by their parents, but by extended family, often due to a crisis, incarceration, addiction or death, as examples, organizations like generations united and the Annie E Casey Foundation have been tracking this for years, and their data shows a steady rise in children living in Grand families or with older relatives. What happens when a 12 year old is asked to become the adult in the room? They grow up too fast. They often miss school. They lose touch with their peers and suffer mental health consequences that can last a lifetime. So here's the heartbreaking twist, these same kids already stretched thin at home are now being swept into another dangerous trend, the rollback of child labor protections. Let's go back for a minute to 1938 I know most of us weren't around then, but the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed in order to protect children from exploitation. It set the minimum age for work and limiting hazardous jobs. Before that, it wasn't uncommon to find 10 year olds in the mines or working 12 hour shifts in factories. Are we headed back that way? Well, the FLSA, the Fair Labor Standards Act, was a triumph of the labor movement. It gave childhood back to children. But now in over 28 states, bills have been introduced, and 12 have already passed that begin to undo those protections. For example, Arkansas eliminated the requirement for children under 16 to get a work permit. Iowa now allows 14 and 15 year olds to work in meat packing plants. Florida is pushing to let teenagers work overnight, even during school weeks. What do you think this is going to do with their future prospects? Let me be clear, these laws are not about lemonade stands or after school jobs. They're about filling labor shortages at the expense of a child's safety, education and well being. This isn't just about policy, it's about lived experience. I was a kinship caregiver at 45 and it nearly cost me my health, my marriage and my business. I can't imagine what that would have been like at age 14. Imagine that happening to a child who hasn't even been promoted from middle school. Supporters of these laws say teens need work experience that working builds character. I'm sure it does. But at what cost are we really asking children to shoulder the emotional burden of caregiving at home and the physical burden of labor outside it. Are we so short staffed that we're now offering up our youngest citizens to prop up the economy? You know, there's a phrase I keep coming back to, the question, do you want? What you have? It's the question I believe we all must ask when we see children carrying loads they never should have picked up that many adults find impossible to bear. I spoke about this in Episode 18 of my podcast with Terry Tucker, who's a motivational expert. The difference for him was that everyone in the family. Pitched in while he was a young caregiver for his mom. He was not doing this alone. If you think I'm exaggerating, please don't just take my word for it. Professors Kate Andreas and Elora Mukherjee at Columbia Law School are raising the alarms about the Exploitation of Migrant youth in the US, many of whom are pushed into unsafe labor due to poverty and lack of protections. Eric Edmonds, an economist at Dartmouth, has also studied the long term effects of child labor across the globe. His conclusion, children who work too early are far more likely to stay in cycles of poverty, under employment and illness. They become the citizens we all point the fingers at, but it really wasn't their fault, if you consider their history. And at the International Labor Organization, Benjamin Smith is also working to prevent a global rollback of child labor standards. Because, believe it or not, the US is now being watched as a cautionary tale in this area. We were supposed to be a model of progress. Instead, we're testing how close we can get to the edge without falling back into Dickensian times this conversation unsettles you. Good. It should ask some questions. If you hear about changes to child labor laws in your state, read the fine print, even if it's just about labor laws, check and see if there's anything relevant to children and support those kinship caregivers who can't get out of it. Groups like generations United offer toolkits and policy updates you can help other families in crisis. Call your legislators demand that any rollback of child labor protections be stopped immediately only we can prevent this tragedy and check in on the younger caregivers around you, if they're missing school, sleeping through class or always tired. There's a story behind that, and some adult ought to be telling it. And finally, childhood should be a time of becoming, not a burden of staying still. Let's not turn our backs while a whole generation of young caregivers and child workers slips through the cracks of policy and politics and worst of all, indifference. Because if we truly value care, we must value the people who give it, no matter what their age is. Now, if this episode moved you, please share it with a friend, or leave a review on Apple or Spotify or YouTube. You can find the links to the research I mentioned in the show notes. So let me ask you, how do you feel about using children as caregivers. I hope you leave a comment below, because people need to hear this and remember, don't just give care, share care. Thank you for listening this week, until next time, this is Deborah greenhut asking you to be concerned about kinship caregiving as pertains to childhood. Thank you. You.
