Hayley Kincain, a teenage character In Laurie Halse Anderson’s The Impossible Knife of Memory (Penguin, 2014), has spent five years caring for her father, who has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  Meanwhile, Alex, a teen in Annie Cardi’s The Chance You Won’t Return (Candlewick, 2014), spends much of her time worrying about her mother’s delusions. Kendra, from Jennifer Brown’s The Perfect Escape (Little, Brown, 2012), constantly tries to navigate her brother’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). These characters represent a specific, often overlooked, group of young people navigating adolescence. Caregiving youth, according to the American Association of Caregiving Youth, are “children and adolescents who are 18 years of age or younger and who provide significant or substantial assistance, often on a regular basis, to relatives or household members who need help because of physical or mental illness, disability, frailty associated with aging, substance misuse, or other condition.” Current estimates suggest that there are 1.3 million households with caregiving youth, or 3.2 percent of all households with children between the ages of eight and 18. Child caregivers tend to live in homes with lower incomes, indicating the role economic factors often play. Families with higher incomes tend to have better access to health care and support services, easing the burden some children carry. Often, caregiving youth are responsible for some immediate needs of a family member, such as bathing and helping with daily tasks. However, even if a teen does not have specific caregiving responsibilities, challenges such as mental illness, addiction, and chronic illness and disability can and do have an impact on all household members. For example, teens with a parent or sibling struggling with mental illness often cope with instability in the home, unpredictable moods and behaviors, and frequent emergency situations. If a parent enters into a major depressive cycle, for instance, and has difficulties getting out of bed, many children must fend for themselves. Often, they will do additional housework and be responsible for their own care, while also tending to a parent and, sometimes, younger siblings. The organizations Children of Parents with Mental Illness and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) address the challenges of children and teens living with parents coping with mental illness and offer support resources. Youth find themselves as caregivers in many situations, but the focus of this article is on mental illness. Current statistics indicate that one in four adults experience some type of mental health issue in the course of their lifetime, which means that many children and teens also feel the impact. In addition, one in five children between 13 to 18 have or will have a mental health challenge, according to NAMI, and their siblings often assume a caregiving role. These youth caregivers need information, support, and care of their own, as the responsibility can be a tremendous strain for those also navigating the complexities of adolescence. Many are asked to step into roles beyond their means and developmental capacity. What is it really like for these young people? These YA literature titles shed some light. While helping some readers develop understanding and empathy, these books provide affirmation and support for those readers who are caregivers themselves. 

Additional Resources for Caregiving Youth

Organizations: American Association of Caregiving Youth Children of Parents with a Mental Illness National Alliance on Mental Illness National Institute of Mental Health Articles and reference: ALAN: YA Novels about Mental Illness Byrne, Jaimie. ”Children Living with a Mentally Ill Parent,” Friends for Mental Health site "Help for a 'Hidden Population' of Caregiving Kids," CNN Mechling, Brandy M. “The Experiences of Youth Serving as Caregivers for Mentally Ill Parents:  A Background Review of the Literature” from  The Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services 49(3), February 2011 Sherman, Michelle D.  “Reaching Out to Children of Parents With Mental Illness,” Social Work Today Vol. 7 No. 5, September/October 2007 Tussing, Heidi L. and Deborah P. Valentine. “Helping Adolescents Cope with the Mental Illness of a Parent Through Bibliotherapy.” Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, Vol. 18, Issue 6, December 2001.

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Karen Jensen, YA services coordinator at the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County, OH, is the creator of the blog Teen Librarian Toolbox.