Imagine you're a teenager. You want to hang out with your friends, but you have to go home, clean the house, cook dinner and take care of your sick parent or family member. It's a lot. You want to do it. You love them and you’d do anything for them. But still, you're just a teen.  An assist here and there would be nice...

I'll help with your appointment.

I’m cooking tonight! I did the laundry, dishes and cleaned the house today.

I love you mom! I’m always here for you!

These are commonly heard statements in the Cuco house. Dianne and Tanya Cuco have been caring for their mom since her leukemia diagnosis in 2008.

“It was so hard. Our dad left the house one year before my mom got ill,” says Dianne. “At first, my older sister and I didn’t know what to do.”

They quickly learned to care for their mom even while they were going to school and work. Both sisters do housework. They give their mom medication and take her to buy groceries.

Tanya is now a college sophomore studying to be a radiologist. Dianne, a ninth-grader, wants to be a veterinarian or marine biologist someday.

“Hopefully I can do something bigger for my mom when I grow up, like buy her a house,” says Dianne.

Caregiving youth, like Dianne and Tanya, help their relatives deal with physical or mental illness or disability. This help is significant and often on a daily basis, according to the American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY), a support organization for youth and their families.

These eight to 18-year-olds often forgo their education, health, and childhood to take on the responsibilities of an adult caregiver.

For children in ethnic-minority families, things can be even more complicated. Sometimes they are the only English-speakers in the family. They often miss school to serve as translators for family doctor appointments.

These heavy responsibilities can cause them to fall behind in school. They sometimes struggle with feelings of isolation and anxiety. 

Carmella Keim was five when her mom was diagnosed with a brain illness that affects her balance.

“I help give her medicine, clean around the house, and also help my dad cook,” says Carmella. She is a freshman now at Florida Atlantic University studying to be a schoolteacher.

State Farm and ADT are supporting these children and their families. They are helping relieve anxiety through AACY's Caregiving Youth Stress Reduction Project. It provides a source of 24/7 live communication for ill or disabled family members. This allows the youth caregiver to focus on school and socialization.

“I’m so glad my mom now has the medical alert bracelet,” says Tanya. "Before having it, she felt insecure and scared to be home alone. Now my sister and I have peace of mind while we are at school or work. We know she can get help if she falls down.”

“The medical alert pendant allows my daughter and husband to leave the house without worrying about me falling,” says Denise Keim. “Thanks to State Farm, ADT and AACY, my daughter is finally getting the freedom and childhood she deserves.”

ADT is the nation’s leading provider of home security services. They are donating ADT Medical Alert monitoring devices to 100 AACY client families. AACY selects families and works with ADT to provide the appropriate device at no cost. State Farm is covering monitoring service costs for one year for all 100 families.

State Farm also offers connected care options and customer discounts on select ADT products. This helps meet the unique needs of customers in caregiving situations. For more information, visit statefarm.com.

BOCA RATON, Fla. and BLOOMINGTON, Ill., (August 30, 2016) – Going back to school is a mixed bag of emotions for most children; a blend of excitement to see friends again and disappointment that the summer is officially over. But according to the American Association for Caregiving Youth® (AACY), the start of the school year results in stress, anxiety and depression for the estimated 1.4 million youth between the ages of eight to eighteen years caring for ill or disabled parents or grandparents. These young people are often forced to forgo their education, health, and childhood to take on the responsibilities of an adult caregiver. State Farm, ADT, and AACY are hoping to relieve some of the stress for these families as the school year begins through the Caregiving Youth Stress Reduction Project.

More than one third of youth caregivers help with at least one activity daily for a loved one, such as dressing, feeding or bathing. Children in ethnic-minority families who are the only English-speaking family members often miss school to serve as translators for family doctor appointments. As a result of these heavy responsibilities, these children often fall behind in school and struggle with feelings of isolation and anxiety.

The Caregiving Youth Stress Reduction Project aims to relieve some of this anxiety by providing a source of 24/7 live communication for ill or disabled family members while allowing the youth caregiver to focus on school and socialization. ADT, the nation’s leading provider of home security services, will donate ADT Medical Alert monitoring devices in the homes of 100 AACY client families throughout the remainder of 2016. AACY will select families by identifying their needs and working with ADT to provide the appropriate device at no cost to the family.

“All of us at ADT, along with our colleagues from Protection One, are proud to help make a difference in the lives of families who will benefit from this donation,” said Jay Darfler, ADT Senior Vice President. “We applaud AACY for the tremendous work they’re doing to increase awareness and provide support to youth caregivers.”

State Farm will pay the cost for one year of monitoring service for all 100 families. The State Farm Connected Care program helps consumers age in their homes by providing accessibility to leading aging-in-place technology providers through a variety of automation and monitoring systems and medical alert devices. “As the leading provider of homeowners’ insurance, State Farm has a vested interest in helping build safer, stronger, and better educated communities,” said Dar Hakimi, State Farm Director-Innovation. “By forming relationships with companies such as ADT, we are empowering customers help protect themselves, their family members and irreplaceable possessions.”

The donation of medical alert devices and one year of paid monitoring service was announced at the AACY Back to School Brunch on Thursday, August 25 in Boca Raton, Florida. The event also honored Carolyn Boltin-Kelly, First Lady of Florida Atlantic University, an advocate and former youth caregiver who cared for her mom as she battled cancer.

According to Dr. Connie Siskowski, “We are thrilled to help reduce the stress on the youth caregiver plus other caregiving adults in the home. In addition, the systems also provide comfort for the care receiver as explained by one mom: ‘You have really made life easier for me knowing that my children aren’t stuck with the burden of my issues and making sure that they have the life they deserve.’”

About ADT

ADT is a leading provider of security and automation solutions for homes and businesses in the United States and Canada. ADT's broad and pioneering set of products and services, including ADT Pulse® interactive home and business solutions, and health services, meet a range of customer needs for today’s active and increasingly mobile lifestyles. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, ADT helps provide peace of mind to nearly seven million customers, and it employs approximately 17,000 people at 200 locations. More information is available at www.adt.com.

About the American Association of Caregiving Youth

The American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) is a Florida based 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation that began serving the greater Boca Raton community in 1998. Today AACY is the only organization of its kind in the United States solely dedicated to addressing the issues surrounding the silent, vulnerable and hidden population, conservatively estimated to exceed 1.4 million children, who provide care for ill, injured, elderly or disabled family members. Its mission is to increase awareness and provide support services for youth caregivers and their families by connecting them with healthcare, education and community resources. AACY's model program, the Caregiving Youth Project (CYP), works in partnership with The School District of Palm Beach County. Dr. Connie Siskowski, the organization's founder was a 2012 CNN Top Ten Hero.