What Caregivers Ask for Most (and Why They Rarely Get It)

Every day, caregivers reach out to Area Agencies on Aging, senior centers, and community-based organizations with a simple request:

“I need help.”

They may be caring for a spouse, a parent, a grandparent, or another loved one. Often, they don’t even identify as caregivers. But the story behind the call is familiar—someone juggling work, family, finances, and their own health while trying to keep another person safe and supported at home.

What’s striking is how consistent these requests are, no matter the community.

What Caregivers Ask for Most

Across the aging network, caregiver needs tend to fall into the following core categories:

(1) Respite. Many caregivers are exhausted. They aren’t asking to step away permanently—just for a break they can trust, so they can rest, work, or attend to their own health.

(2) Clear guidance. Caregivers are often thrust into the role of care coordinator overnight. They want to know where to start, what programs exist, and how to navigate complex systems without repeating the same story over and over.

(3) Emotional support and connection. Caregiving can be isolating. Caregivers frequently ask for support groups, peer connection, or simply someone who understands the weight they’re carrying.

(4) Practical, everyday help. Transportation, meals, home modifications, and financial strain come up again and again. These requests reflect basic needs, not extras—and they often determine whether caregiving is sustainable.

These Needs Are Widely Recognized

These requests aren’t anecdotal. National organizations like USAging and the National Council on Aging (NCOA)—both longtime leaders in caregiver advocacy—have consistently highlighted the same challenges: caregiver burnout, lack of respite, difficulty navigating services, and the financial and emotional toll of caregiving. Across research, policy guidance, and frontline experience, the message from caregivers is remarkably consistent.

Why These Needs Go Unmet

If caregiver needs are so clear, why are they so hard to meet?

Support systems are siloed. Caregiver needs cut across nutrition, transportation, health, and social services, but programs and funding streams are often separated—making coordination difficult.

Help often arrives too late. Limited capacity means many organizations must prioritize crisis cases. As a result, caregivers may not receive support until burnout or emergency forces the issue.

Complexity becomes a barrier. Eligibility rules, paperwork, digital access challenges, and language barriers can prevent caregivers from getting help—even when services exist.

Caregivers remain largely invisible. Systems rightly focus on older adults, but caregivers’ own needs are often secondary. Many don’t self-identify or ask for help until they are overwhelmed.

What’s Working—and What Needs to Change

Despite these challenges, the aging network already plays a critical role. AAAs, senior centers, and community-based organizations are often the first—and only—place caregivers turn. Flexible services, local partnerships, and trusted relationships make a real difference every day.

But caregiver support cannot be treated as an add-on. It must be recognized as core infrastructure for aging well at home.

Improving caregiver support doesn’t always mean creating new programs. Often, it means better coordination—making it easier to identify caregiver needs early, connect services across programs, and reduce the burden on both families and staff. Software systems designed specifically for the aging network can help organizations bring information and referral, caregiver support, and service coordination into one place—supporting more proactive, connected care.

Listening Is Only the First Step

Caregivers aren’t asking for the impossible. They’re asking for rest, clarity, connection, and practical help—the things that allow them to keep going.

Organizations like USAging and NCOA have been clear: supporting caregivers is essential to helping older adults age well at home. When communities recognize caregivers as partners in care—and invest in systems that support them—we strengthen families, protect older adults, and build more sustainable care networks for the future.