Dear Prudence, My 19-year-old half-sister is currently living with me. Her mother basically drove...
Category: Caring for a Sibling
Gone, not forgotten: sister reflects on her brother’s institutionalized life
Bill was born in 1956 with Down syndrome. When he was 2½, my parents took him to what was then...
Chronic Illness When You’re Twins
Growing up, Robin Melamed and Tara Liebnick, now 45, were typical twins. They shared the same...
The Millennials Who Pay for Their Parents’ Living Expenses
The common theme with every immigrant dad is they have such amazing jobs and qualifications and...
Friends with secrets: Akilah
Three friends with different backgrounds participated in online text therapy sessions from January...
When detaching from someone you love is the only option
People who have loved ones with addiction are often told that they need to stick by them no matter...
Autistic New Yorkers Share Their Stim-Toy Stories With ‘Aftereffect’
After an autistic man's stim toy was mistaken for a gun, with tragic results, NPR's Aftereffects...
The Boxed Generation: Caring and Coping on All Sides
Baby Boomers and Gen Xer’s had better get used to this complex reality, because their generations...
The Diagnosis That Wasn’t
When my nine-year-old son, Max, was diagnosed with ADHD last year, I immediately went into...
Caring for Tor | An intimate look at the life of a young caregiver
Stephane put his life on hold to care for his baby brother. Tor is nonverbal and requires 24/7...
We need to talk about death, say parents of kids with life-limiting illnesses
Julie reached out to me to speak about those frantic final days and hours at Montreal's...
What It’s Like to Lose a Sibling to Suicide
Four years ago, following a long battle with a severe prescription drug addiction, Jessica took...
What it’s like to have a sister with special-needs, aka Boo-Bear
Ellery and Clare are sisters to Gilly, who has special needs. Gilly has high-needs autism meaning...
‘The community needs to step up’ says caregiver advocate
When Dr. Yona Lunsky's older sister was a toddler, it was recommended that she be placed in an...
Her Sister’s Keeper: Caring For A Sibling With Mental Illness
Jenny Gold, Kaiser Health News When sisters Jean and Ruby were growing up in Harlem, they invented...
This is How You Say Goodbye
Some of us pretend that we’re fine. And maybe we are. We grieve publicly, but mostly privately. It...
Part child, part honorary adult
When I was a child, I was eager to help care for my older sister, Mikey, who had profound...
The dangerous topic of appreciation
Does the person who you caregive for appreciate what you do? It's a dangerous question to ask,...
Moving on without me
This is not how I expected to spend my early 30s. My parents had hardly had a minute to enjoy...
What do you miss most about your “old life”?
Caregiving changes your life forever. Even when caregiving ends, we've been transformed. Here's...
My Brother’s Keeper
The hardest thing about marrying off my brother was trusting his new wife could care for his...
Can Love Sparked at Burning Man Last in Everyday Life?
My older brother, Bill, had lit himself on fire in front of the Veteran’s Hospital where he was...
Back Home, at Home
Great caregivers are as skilled as an anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist takes over the...
Parents of Kids With Special Health Needs Are Making a Huge, Secret Social Contribution
Susan estimates that her husband and Jack’s siblings spent about 14 hours a week actively caring...