Phyllis Mutschler, Ph.D., Executive Director of the National Center on Women and Aging and an Associate Research Professor at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management

I would like to see attention brought to the opportunity costs associated with caregiving. In some research that we conducted, we discovered that caregivers incurred huge losses because their work was disrupted or suspended. Such an impact on the caregiver calls for important forethought to be given to the caregiving arrangement.

"Are adult children legally responsible for the care of their parents?"

Also, I think there hasn't been enough attention paid to the way that caregiving takes place in various kinds of families, particularly with the growth of the Latino population. I think it would be worthwhile exploring what some of the differences are across cultural groups.

If you have time, it is also important to talk about technology. One example is a care center engaging a care consumer with a 12- to 15-minute telephone script. The script can allow the caregiver to go off and get a shower without worrying, which I thought was interesting.

You may also want to look at the historical context because you know there are large number of states that have still on their books family responsibility laws that speak to the states' interest in families to take responsibility. In the past, these laws were particularly thorny when people were thinking about recouping the costs that the state might be making on behalf of, let's say, an older person. This context raises a very interesting philosophical question: Are adult children legally responsible for the care (and cost of that care) of their parents?

Issues that Matter | Caregiving Professionals Forum