ABSTRACT
Jane1 and her husband Robert are both 54 and have two children. Their son and his wife have just had their first child and their daughter, a single parent, has a three and a half year old. Jane is one of nine children. Her father is 91 and has recently moved to live with one of Jane’s sisters, and her in-laws are in their seventies. There are many examples of informal care in Jane’s life. She and her sisters helped their parents and subsequently their father when their mother died. When her daughter’s marriage broke up, Jane found herself supporting her daughter as well as helping her sister care for their father. The stress of supporting her family led to her own ill health and she resigned from her job as a learning support assistant. Although this had a detrimental effect on her pension, she felt she was unable to continue with both her work and her caring responsibilities. Jane now works 10 hours a week as a supervisor in an out-of-school club, which gives her much satisfaction, though she foresees having to give this up as her caring responsibilities increase. Her sister is finding care of their father difficult and Jane provides respite care. Her brothers are largely exempted from this because, according to Jane, they are the main breadwinners in their families. Jane provides emotional and practical support to her in-laws and to her son and daughter. She has her granddaughter to stay at least once a week, but does not want to provide regular childcare while her children work, though is happy to help in an emergency. She ‘keeps an eye’ on an elderly neighbour and helps him as and when she can. Jane sees caring as being what families are about, ‘you get back what you give’, but says it is also in her nature to care.
