Am I just being helpful or am I a caregiver?

Caregiving is the act of selflessly caring for a loved one. On the Mantelzorgelijk website you’ll find the most important questions about caregiving. You’ll get clear answers – without the complicated caregiving terminology – and helpful tips. In this article we answer the question ‘Am I a caregiver?’

One in six adults in The Netherlands provides more than eight hours of support to a loved one. More than half of these people take care of a parent. Six percent of caregivers takes care of a child. Women usually help manage (social) services, they help with personal hygiene or emotional support. Men more often help with the administrative work and arranging transportation.

Are you a caregiver?

There is a difference between ‘helping someone on a regular basis’ and ‘caregiving’. For instance, you spend half an hour or an hour a week with your loved one, helping out with small and large things like grocery shopping, administrative work, physical support. That takes up a considerable amount of time and energy. That is why the government has drawn up an official line, that indicates when you are officially a caregiver in the eyes of the municipal government, the insurance and the law. If your answer to the questions below is yes, you are allowed by law to call yourself a caregiver:

Have you been taking care of your loved one for more than three months?

Do you take care of your loved one more than eight hours a week?

If you answer one or both questions with ‘no’, it doesn’t mean that you are not taking care of a loved one, but in the eyes of the local government and the insurance you are not an official caregiver.