The Sandwich Generation: Caring For Ageing Parents and Raising Kids

The sandwich generation refers to adults who are simultaneously raising dependent children and supporting one or more ageing parents, often while working full-time and managing a household. In Australia, this group is growing as people have children later in life and parents live longer. If this describes your situation, government-funded home care support may be available to help take some of that pressure off you.

Who Is The Sandwich Generation In Australia?

The sandwich generation is typically adults in their 40s and 50s. They are raising children while also taking on increasing responsibility for an ageing parent, usually while working full time. In practice this means managing two sets of competing needs at once. School pickups and GP appointments. Household budgets stretched across two generations. A constant background layer of coordination that is hard to switch off.

The care involved is not always dramatic. For many families it starts small—help with shopping, a lift to an appointment, a check-in phone call that turns into an hour. Over time, that informal support can quietly become the primary thing keeping a parent safe at home, and the person providing it rarely has time to step back and assess whether the arrangement is sustainable.

Signs Your Ageing Parent May Need Support at Home

Common signs that your parent may benefit from additional support include:

• The house is becoming harder to keep on top of
• Meals are being skipped or replaced with easy options that lack nutrition
• Medical appointments are being missed or forgotten
• There has been a recent fall, or mobility has noticeably changed
• Your parent is becoming more isolated or withdrawn
• You move from helping out occasionally to taking on a regular caring role

That last point matters as much as the others. If the current arrangement only holds because one person is consistently overextending, it is not a stable arrangement. Getting formal support in place protects both your parent’s wellbeing and yours.

One practical note on language: many older Australians associate words like aged care with losing independence. Framing support as help with specific tasks, like cleaning, transport and meals, is often an easier starting point for the conversation.

What Is The Support at Home Program?

Support at Home is the Australian Government’s home care program for older Australians, launched on 1 November 2025. It replaced the Home Care Packages Program and the Short-term Restorative Care Program. The program funds a range of services to help older people remain safe and independent at home, with funding amounts based on an assessed classification level.

Support at Home is delivered by registered providers and accessed through My Aged Care. Funding varies depending on the level of assessed care need.

Classifications 1 and two typically cover a few hours of support per week and suit people who need occasional hep with everyday tasks. Higher classifications, up to Classification 8, are designed for people with more complex or intensive care needs and come with significantly larger annual budgets. The classification is determined during the in-home assessment, not self-selected, so the amount of funding your parent receives will reflect what the assessor identifies as their actual needs.

Learn more about Support at Home classifications.