(Madison) – Disability Rights Wisconsin was pleased to see the strong proposals included in the Governor’s Task Force on Caregiving and applauds the Task Force’s hard work to improve conditions for those doing the hard work of caregiving around the state.
The Task Force’s report included a number of recommendations aimed at enhancing resources for both the direct care work force and family caregivers. The recommendations included raising the rates to providers that are tied to increases in worker wages; ensuring that workers can afford and maintain essential benefits like health care and child care; enhancing the resources for family caregivers provided through Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs); and other proposals that will help to alleviate some of the pressures on the estimated 580,000 family caregivers and more than 90,000 direct care
workers in Wisconsin.
“These recommendations highlight important areas where Wisconsin’s caregivers urgently need assistance to help them continue to provide critical daily supports that keep people with disabilities living at home and out of institutional settings,” said Lea Kitz, Executive Director of Disability Rights Wisconsin. “The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the already dire situation that many of these critical caregivers face. DRW hopes that Wisconsin’s policy makers will work together to quickly implement these measures.”
