Who is a carer?
A carer can be a person, male or female, of any age who provides help or assistance to a partner, child, parent, other relation, friend or neighbour who has a disability or medical condition that requires care.
Each caring situation is unique and there is no one way to adequately describe the diverse and complex relationships that exist in caring situations.
Carers may be required to provide care for a short period of time, such as for a person with an acute medical condition, or for longer periods such as parents providing care for a child born with a lifelong condition.
A caring situation may evolve over many years, such as caring for a frail-aged parent with diminishing health and functional ability, or in the case of older couples living and ageing together (co dependent carers) where each plays the role of both the carer and care recipient. An evolving caring situation may also result from degenerative illnesses such as multiple sclerosis or cystic fibrosis, episodic illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia or short term conditions such as broken bones or temporary mobility conditions.
The onset of caring situations can also occur quite unexpectedly, at any time. These situations arise from (but are not limited to) car accidents, heart attacks, stroke, birth of a child with disability or the breakdown of existing care arrangements following the death or during the illness of a carer.
Australian Government financial support is generally available to carers who provide daily care and attention to a person who requires care because of disability or being frail aged. Some programs and services are available to carers more broadly.