Talking Teen Services: Seeing Our Unseen Caregiving Youth
Presented by Colorado State Library
In 2023, the Healthy Kids Colorado survey asked middle and high schoolers in Colorado whether or not they “provide care for someone in their family or household who is chronically ill, elderly, or disabled with activities they would have difficulty doing on their own one or more days a week.” An estimated 12.4% of high schoolers and 20.5% of middle schoolers responding said yes.
Caregiving youth who provide care for adults and/or younger children in their families, households, and communities often go unseen by professionals working in settings like public and school libraries. We ask “How do I get teens into the library?” instead of asking what responsibilities teens have at home that prevent them from visiting the library. During this session, our panel of experts and caregivers will help us learn more about how to better see these unseen young people.
Library folks, let’s also gather again on January 20, 2026 to utilize what we learn from our panelists and begin discussing how we better serve this underserved population through our public and school libraries.