The Effects of Cash and Counseling on the Primary Informal Caregivers of Children with Developmental Disabilities

Promoting the well-being of parents and other relatives who serve as informal caregivers to provide vital, unpaid personal care to children with developmental disabilities is an important policy objective. Furthermore, paid supportive services that children receive in addition to unpaid care could profoundly affect the informal caregivers who help them most. Treatment group caregivers provided as much overall assistance as did control group caregivers, yet they reported greater satisfaction with the child’s care and less physical strain on themselves. Treatment group caregivers were more likely to be working and less likely to say that caregiving caused great financial strain. They were also more likely to be very satisfied with how they were spending their own lives.