Daughterhood

Daughterhood is the story of family caregiving. As the only child of divorced parents, Lisa always understood that it would be her responsibility to care for her parents when they reached a certain age. The time has now come, and the challenge of caring for an elderly parent is greater than she ever imagined. Israel has terminal cancer. Lisa resides in California; he is back in Georgia where she was raised. Every few weeks she leaves her family and business behind to travel cross country and manage her father’s overall care. The financial, physical, and emotional strain of juggling it all is significant. As a society, we acknowledge that long term care for our elderly is severely lacking across all platforms. Caregiver support is even less prevalent. Lisa's story is far from a solitary one and will only become more common with the continued retirement of the Baby Boomer generation. Economists say the growing need to care for older relatives has played a role in the percentage of women taking leave from the workforce. Caring for a parent requires time, attention, and in some cases, large financial and career sacrifices; all the while these women are raising their own children and striving to build up a nest egg after the Great Recession.