Georgia Senate study committee hears wide-ranging testimony on family caregiving needs

State senators convened a Senate Study Committee meeting in Augusta to examine family caregiving needs across Georgia, hearing detailed testimony on the scale of unpaid caregiving, gaps in services, workforce shortages and programs already operating in the state.

State Senator Harold Jones, who opened the session as the committee chair, said the panel’s charge is to “bring attention to this issue” and to identify practical options lawmakers could consider. Multiple presenters described caregiving as a common, long-term responsibility: Wallace White of AARP cited the 2025 AARP/National Alliance for Caregiving report estimating roughly 63 million family caregivers nationwide and said family caregiving often amounts to a full-time job. Deborah Minor, aging services director at the Area Agency on Aging (Triple-A) for the Central Savannah River Area, reviewed U.S. and Georgia census data showing a rapidly growing older population and noted particular strain in…