Lifting Our Voices

The Journeys Into Family Caregiving of Professional Social Workers

Lifting Our Voices is the only book to explore the dual roles of professional social workers who are also family caregivers and the only collection on caregiving in which the majority of contributors are African American. After discussing the relevant literature, Lifting Our Voices vividly and sensitively presents the caregiving experiences of ten professional social workers. Using professional and theoretical knowledge and skills, each contributor draws implications for various levels of social work and human service interventions. These poignant descriptions and analyses recount both the frustrations and barriers of negotiating social service agencies and other institutions and the joys and triumphs of family caregiving. Lifting Our Voices frankly discusses how a professional education either prepares or fails to equip an individual with the skills for successful intervention on behalf of a loved one. Contributors hail from rich and varied backgrounds, revealing the importance of age, ethnicity, gender, marital status, and gerontological expertise in the practice of family caregiving.

These essays explore situations rarely reported on in the literature, such as caregivers and care recipients who represent the lifespan from preschool to retirement. Lifting Our Voices graphically describes types of caregiving that are seldom discussed, including simultaneous caregiving to multiple family members and reciprocal and sequential caregiving, thus broadening and refining the very concepts of "caregiving" and "family."