From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

A growing generation of parents is now facing old age and the prospect that their children with disabilities will outlive them. As of 2006, more than 716,000 adults with developmental disabilities were living with caregivers over the age of 60 in the United States.

Caregivers say they worry about an uncertain future for their family members, and advocates say this concern is magnified by a system with limited safety nets and the prospect of impending cuts in services for adults with developmental disabilities.

Waiting lists for social services are long, with some 6,300 people waiting in Georgia. Some have been waiting for years.

“Elderly parents have cared for their children their whole lives without support,” said Pat Nobbie, deputy director of the Georgia Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities. “When they need it, the state needs to be there to help them.”

(Atlanta Journal-Constitution photo: Marilyn Humphreys (left) cares for daughter Jenny, 32, who uses a communication device to speak.)

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 10:54 am and is filed under Down syndrome, families, funding, independent living, intellectual/developmental disabilities, parents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.