Ten years ago, while writing an article about family caregiving, I found myself comparing caring for aging parents to caring for children. That’s when it struck me: caregiving for a parent is such a profound, singular life experience that it deserves its own name. And in that moment, the word Daughterhood popped into my head. I wrote the sentence that started it all: “Daughterhood makes motherhood look like a walk in the park.”
From there, Daughterhood took root. More blogs followed, and what began as words on a page quickly grew into a real community. Daughterhood Circles formed across the country, led by incredible volunteers who recognized the need to bring the hardest, often unspoken parts of caregiving into the open. Our goal was simple: to make sure no family caregiver ever felt alone. Along the way, Rosanne Corcoran launched Daughterhood the Podcast, opening new doors for connection and multiplying the reach of our community.
The past decade has been full of change. COVID transformed our local Circles into virtual ones, and suddenly geography no longer mattered. Caregivers could join from anywhere, logging in to share their struggles and heartbreak with others who understood. We formally established Daughterhood as a nonprofit and built a Board of Directors to help guide the work forward.
And yet, through all the change, three truths remain constant:
- Family caregivers are the backbone of our healthcare system. They organize entire care delivery systems for loved ones, navigating, delivering, and managing care.
- Family caregivers carry deep emotional pain and trauma. Overwhelm, loneliness, fractured family relationships, grief, and loss continue to weigh heavily.
- There is no obvious “place to go” for comprehensive help. Caregivers need support for both the emotional and the practical sides of their role — and they still struggle to find it.
As long as these truths endure, Daughterhood will remain steadfast in its mission: to foster a supportive community for family caregivers and empower them to navigate both the emotional and practical complexities of caregiving.
We are profoundly grateful to the thousands of family caregivers who have joined our community over the past decade, and to the Circle leaders and supporters who have carried this work alongside us. Looking ahead, we remain deeply committed to this mission as American families face the challenge of caring for a growing population of adults over 80.Thank you for being part of this journey. If you feel moved to support our mission, please consider joining our $10 for 10 Years Campaign by donating through our website at www.daughterhood.org. Together, we can continue to bring light and community to family caregivers everywhere.