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58 King William Road, Goodwood, South Australia 5034
Telephone (08) 8271 6288 Fax (08) 8271 6388 Toll Free 1800 815 549 |
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Who
are Carers?
A Carer is someone who provides care and support
for their parent, partner, child or friend who has a disability,
is frail aged, or who has a chronic mental or physical disability.
Carers come from all cultural and social backgrounds and range in
age from children to older adults.
They give up their time, their income and resources to care.
Over
2.6 million Australians, that is about 1 in 8, are Carers. Most
people will either give or receive care at sometime in their life.
Carers
come from all walks of life. Some provide care for a short time
- for others it is a life's work.
Family
Carers feed, bathe, dress, toilet, drive, supervise, medicate, comfort
and nurse some of the most vulnerable members of our community.
Carers
may sacrifice their own well-being and life opportunities for paid
work, education, leisure and even relationships. Carers may have
pressing responsibilities for other family members including young
children, whose needs then come second.
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Carers are demanding genuine choices about meeting their care
responsibilities. |
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Key
facts about Carers
Carers
SA is guided by
the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as well as its own research
and data collected by recognised organisations such as the Australian
Institute of Family Studies.
The ABS 2003 Survey of
Disability, Ageing and Carers indicated that in South Australia:
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- There are 227,700
people involved in the caring role, 77% in metropolitan Adelaide
and 23% in rural SA.
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- 41,290 (18%) are primary
Carers.
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- 29,441(71%) of primary
Carers are female.
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- There are 30,000 young
Carers of whom 14,800 are under 18.
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- 48% of primary Carers
provide at least 40 hours per week support.
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- 44% of primary Carers
themselves had a disability.
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- 53% of all Carers
aged 15 and over are employed, 34% fulltime. 46% of primary Carers
are employed fulltime.
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- 37% of primary Carers are reliant on a government pension or
allowance for their income.
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- An estimated 64 million hours of caring are provided by Carers
each year.
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- Family Carers contribute
$19.3 billion of care per year to the National economy.
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- Carers are the major
providers of community care services, delivering 70% of all care
to family members and friends needing care and support.
The government's Home and Community Care Program, worth over $800
million nationally, meets only 9% of the need.
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- Many Carers are amongst
the poorest, most disadvantaged people in our community. They
cannot do paid work, or can only work part time. With no paid
job, younger Carers face future hardships without savings or superannuation.
The labour force participation rate for primary Carers is much
lower at 39% than those who were not Carers at 68%.
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- Most primary Carers
are of workforce age (78% are aged between 18 to 64), but there
is a substantial proportion who are aged 64 or over (over 100,000).
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- Family responsibility
(57%)
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- No other family or
friends are available or willing (40%)
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- Emotional obligation
(39%)
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- Alternative care is
unavailable or too costly ( 32%)
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- 25% (111,600) of primary
Carers say they need assistance or more assistance in providing
care.
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- 77% of primary Carers
have never received respite care and say they do not want it.
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- 16% (72,000) of primary
Carers do not receive as much respite as they want or need.
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- 43,800 primary Carers
have never received respite care.
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(Source:
ABS 1998 Disability, Ageing and Carers: Summary of Findings 4430.0
April 1999 and September 2004)
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