Market reference note: This article covers information from both Korea and the United States. Each piece of information is marked in the text with 🇰🇷 Korea (Korea) or 🇺🇸 U.S. (United States) to indicate which country it applies to.
The longer you stand by your parents' side, the harder it often becomes to ask for help. It starts with 'I can handle this,' and somewhere along the way a thought takes hold: 'After everything I've done, saying I'm struggling now feels like giving up.' But the inability to ask for help is precisely where burnout begins.
🇰🇷 Korea According to the 'Survey on Awareness of Integrated Care and Preferences for Care Policy' released in 2026 by the foundation Dolbom-gwa Mirae (Care and the Future), 1 in 2 adults (51%) has a family member who needs care, and of these, 65% say a family member is directly providing that care. The difficulties reported from caregiving were financial burden (70%), the time burden of balancing work and caregiving (61%), and mental and physical stress (59%), in that order. The hardship is not just a number in a statistic — it is your day, right now, as you read these words.
🇺🇸 U.S. According to a 2025 report released by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, the number of family caregivers in the United States has surpassed 63 million, an increase of approximately 50% compared to 2015. Nearly half of them report financial difficulty, and more than 40% are providing high-intensity care. Yet the proportion receiving any form of formal support remains low; the data show that approximately 47% of caregivers receive no formal support of any kind — no financial assistance, no counseling, no respite services.
Why is asking for help so difficult? A complex mix of forces is at work: the fear of being a burden, the pride of not wanting to appear weak, and a perfectionism that says 'no one else will care for them as well as I do.' In Korean-American family culture in particular, there is a strong tendency to see handling care within the family as the natural thing to do, which makes reaching out to others feel all the more daunting. Yet choosing not to ask for help is not a virtue — it can ultimately become a choice that puts both the caregiver and the parent at greater risk.
Asking for help is a skill you train. Start small. Ask a sibling or a friend something specific: 'Can you take over for two hours this weekend?' That is the first step. Rather than saying vaguely 'I'm struggling,' the more specifically you can say what you need, when, and how much, the easier it is for the other person to say yes. 🇺🇸 U.S. AARP advises caregivers to 'not go it alone' and recommends building a team through a variety of means — family, friends, community resources, and paid respite care.
Formal programs are also tools for asking for help. 🇰🇷 Korea If you are a worker, you can use the Ministry of Employment and Labor's Family Care Leave program to take up to 10 days per year in single-day increments (Act on Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance, Article 22-2). If you are caring for a long-term care recipient at Grade 1 or 2, or at Grade 3 or below with dementia, you may also use the 'Long-Term Care Family Vacation Program' (장기요양 가족휴가제) to receive up to 11 days per year of short-term protective care or all-day visit care services. To apply, contact the National Health Insurance Service (건강보험공단) customer center at 1577-1000, or the Ministry of Health and Welfare call center at 129. 🇺🇸 U.S. Through the 211 helpline co-operated by AARP and United Way, you can be connected with local caregiving support resources. You can also find caregiver support programs through each state's Area Agency on Aging.
When you ask for help and the world does not fall apart, that experience accumulates — and the next time, reaching out becomes a little easier. Practicing permission to be someone who asks is at the heart of caregiver wellness. Caregiving is a marathon. If you sprint alone until you collapse, the best version of yourself — the one who helps your parents most — disappears.
Sources: Dolbom-gwa Mirae (Care and the Future) Foundation, 'Survey on Awareness of Integrated Care and Preferences for Care Policy' (May 2026); AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving, 'Caregiving in the US 2025'; SeniorLiving.org, 'Family Caregiver Annual Report and Statistics'; Ministry of Employment and Labor, Family Care Leave program guidance (easylaw.go.kr, worklife.kr); Ministry of Health and Welfare and National Health Insurance Service, Long-Term Care Family Vacation Program guidance (Seoul Sinmun, June 2025); AARP 211 Caregiving Helpline guidance.
Note: This article was compiled by AI from the sources cited above. We strive for accuracy, but for decisions about your specific situation, please confirm the latest guidance from a professional or the relevant agency.