Being the person everyone leans on sounds like love, and it is. But it comes at a cost.

Informal or unpaid caregivers assist others, such as a parent, spouse, child, or relative with medical or day-to-day tasks. And according to data from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, approximately 7 million of the 53 million informal caregivers in America identify as Black.

Representing 14 percent of the caregiving population, Black caregivers’ challenges are amplified because of health and financial stressors that can cause anxiety, depression, or feelings of loneliness or isolation.

For example, about 57 percent of Black caregivers are “high burden” caregivers, meaning they spend an average of 30 hours each week attending to family members’ care needs, and 64 percent of them juggle full-time work where they put in an average of 37.5 hours per week. Hispanic and white caregivers spend 26 and 21 hours on weekly caregiving duties, respectively.

And there is a hefty financial impact, too: AARP’s Caregiving Out-of-Pocket Costs Study found that white caregivers spend 14 percent or more of their annual income on out-of-pocket caregiving expenses compared to Hispanic and Latino caregivers who spend 47 percent and Black caregivers’ 34 percent.

A tough road for Black caregivers


The financial strain is even worse for Black caregivers who say their adverse financial effects are multiplied by 2.4 because of their out-of-pocket caregiving costs, more than non-Hispanic white or Asian caregivers. That increased strain results in leaving bills unpaid bills or paying them late, assuming more debt, and no longer contributing to savings.

Organizations like Caring across Generations blame the inequities Black, Hispanic, Latino, and Indigenous caregivers commonly experience on systemic bias and say intersectional solutions such as paid leave, culturally competent support services, and increased access to home and community-based services are needed.

And caregiving racial disparities grow deeper along gender lines.

According to the National Partnership for Women and Families millions of Black women—who account for more than half of Black caregivers—have left the workforce behind to focus on caregiving due to the absence of work-family policies.

Carolyn Shaw of Decatur, Georgia, left her retail management job to care for her father after he experienced a stroke during the pandemic. Because the stroke affected his speech and mobility, he requires substantial help with bathing, eating, and walking.

Data show that 55 percent of Black caregivers are also more likely to be the sole, unpaid caregiver for the person receiving care, compared to 44 percent of white caregivers.

This data point also resonates with Shaw. While she has siblings, she provides constant care for her father except for a few breaks throughout the year.

“I’m the one who takes my dad to his physical and speech therapy appointments, prepares his meals, shaves his face, and tries to encourage him through his bouts of depression. Sometimes one of my brothers will come for a weekend to give me a break, but otherwise I am always here,” Shaw said.


Shaw’s experience tracks with a National Library of Medicine study that found Black female caregivers “provide much higher levels of care than white female or male caregivers and spend slightly more than 28 hours more per month on caregiving duties than white women.”

How to find help

Findings from the Center for American Progress (CAP) research show, “Black women are less likely to have access to leave compared to other demographics; they are also more likely to take unpaid leave instead of having time off while still being paid.” Further, according to that same CAP research,  of the 1.8 million leaves working Black women take, 42 percent are unpaid, which means Black women deal with lost wages to give care.

A National Partnership for Women and Families brief states paid leave and equitable pay are key in helping Black women caregivers in particular to balance their careers and caregiving duties and maintain financial autonomy.

Policy interventions are part of an intersectional approach to solving America’s caregiving crisis along racial and gender lines. And in 2018, Congress passed the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Family Caregivers Act. The RAISE Act established the Family Caregiving Advisory Council, which is creating the first national Family Caregiver Strategy in the United States.

The national strategy provides federal, state, local, and tribal groups with a blueprint to work toward five goals to support family caregivers:

  1. Improved awareness of and outreach to family caregivers 
  2. Involvement of family caregivers in the care team 
  3. Services and supports for family caregivers 
  4. Financial and employment protections 
  5. Data, research, and best practices

In Georgia, a family caregiver like Shaw is nearly twice as likely to face financial strain as a family caregiver in Minnesota, according to data from a National Caregiving Alliance and AARP report. But as part of national strategy efforts in the Peach State, caregiver programs such as adult day health care, respite care, legal assistance, and telephone counseling are available.

Shaw said she may consider respite care but is relying on informal support means such as her friends and faith network in the meantime.

Visit These Organizations for Caregiving Resources such as webinars, support groups, and help guides.

MORE FROM URWELL