Policies proposed by the vast majority of legislative candidates ignore the needs of long-term family care providers, members of a civic group said yesterday.
Members of the Taiwan Association of Family Caregivers shouted slogans demanding the needs of family caregivers be acknowledged, saying that only nine out of more than 370 legislative candidates have proposed policies for family caregivers, while less than 20 percent answered a survey asking for their views on caregivers, which the members said reflects apathy toward the caregivers’ plight.
“While the public understands how important the issue of elderly disabled people is, what they do not understand is that in their homes there at least two people who are suffering — the one lying down and the one caring for them,” association secretary-general Chen Ching-ning (陳景寧) said.
Of the candidates who returned the surveys, 39 percent agreed with the association’s stance that full-time family caregivers should be guaranteed one day off per week, while 31 percent agreed with the association’s recommendation that caregivers who have paid jobs should be allowed additional paid leave, Chen said.
Reforming government assistance programs and holiday regulations is necessary to prevent caregivers from being treated by the government as a resource to exploited, Chen said, adding that it would lower the risk that they break under the pressure.
“The main problem is that family caregivers are not on the government’s radar — they believe that family members can cover all functions like a robot that never needs to rest or take leave,” she said, adding that the government met only one-eighth of applications for substitute “breathing time” caregivers, meaning that family caregivers often have fewer than 10 days off per year.
The association called for the program to be expanded to ensure that full-time family caregivers have at least one day off per week, saying that caregivers who have jobs should be allowed to take extra leave along the lines of maternity leave.
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