All in the family: Mothers of children with disabilities and retirement

Mothers of children with disabilities face unique tradeoffs as they approach retirement. These mothers often struggle to amass retirement savings due to their caregiving responsibilities and increased expenses yet require greater economic resources in retirement as they continue to provide for their children’s financial and caregiving needs during retirement. We use a mixed-methods approach, leveraging data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and data collected from interviews with mothers to examine differences in retirement outcomes for mothers of children with disabilities compared with other mothers and to understand how these mothers think about retirement options. Interviews and quantitative estimates identify caregiving responsibilities as a key consideration in mothers’ decisions about when, where, and how much to work. Qualitative data reveal that even among our relatively advantaged sample, caregiving, career trajectories, and expected financial needs of children affect retirement plans. Our findings suggest social workers can play an important role in supporting these families by connecting them to available benefits and resources. Findings also emphasize the importance of additional research on this topic with more diverse families.