carers continue to provide care without support from social work or health services and because of this they remain hidden or invisible (scottish executive 2006, cavaye 2006). carers are viewed by the government as an important resource and in recent years have been given increasing recognition in health and social care policy. since devolution in 1999 legislation and policy for caregivers has been developed by the former scottish executive (now scottish government). carers in scotland are regarded as 'partners' in the provision of care. as a result, support services provided to carers are regarded as part of the overall package of care to the person being looked after. this means that carers are not seen as service users and are therefore not responsible for the cost of any service provided. the exception to this is when a carer is looking after their partner; in that situation their income may be taken into account during a financial assessment. this situation is different from that which exists in england where carers are viewed as services users in their own right and as such are liable for the cost of services provided. yet, in many cases, it is not the carer who actually needs the service; it is the person being cared for who needs it because of their illness or disability. united states according to a november, 2007 survey on family caregiving, most family caregivers feel more positive about their experiences than they did just before they took on the responsibility, with significant differences in expectation prior to becoming a caregiver and the actual experience. the survey also found that caregivers are often burdened by high out-of-pocket costs in caring for a spouse or parent, but: sixty percent of the caregivers called the experience "very or extremely rewarding," a 50% jump over the number of caregivers who thought in advance they would find the experience "very or extremely rewarding." nearly 80% (78.8%) percent of the caregivers found the experience to be at least "rewarding," an increase of more than one-third from initial expectation. a majority of the caregivers-nearly 54%-formed a stronger bond with the patient during the time they were together. almost 60% of the respondents reported an improvement in the quality of their relationship with the person for whom they cared. by contrast, fewer than 10% said that their relationship got worse during the time they were caregivers. social activities of the caregiver tend to diminish. the diminished social activities are replaced with an increased quality of relationship with the care recipient. more than 2/3 of all caregivers (68.7%) said they enjoy the tasks associated with caregiving. prior to assuming the role, fewer than half (45.5%) thought they would enjoy caregiving. the amount of satisfaction with caregiving is directly related to the type of disease of the care recipient. caregivers of people with depression, cancer, or cardiac disease have more difficulty than those caring for patients who have diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis. according to the caregiver statistics fact sheet (2012) 43.5 million of adult family caregivers care for someone 50+ years of age and 14.9 million care for someone who has alzheimer's disease or other dementia . the number of male caregivers may be increasing and will continue to do so due to a variety of social demographic factors . retrieved from. dellman-jenkins, blankemeyer and pinkard found that young adults are increasingly becoming caregivers to their elderly relatives because of economic factors. a new population of caregivers to elderly are children and grandchildren, aged 40 years and younger, serving as the major source of support to an older relative(s). retrieved from other information about us caregivers: by 2009, more than 61.6 million people provided unpaid care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend at an estimated value of $450 billion. 1.4 million children ages 8 to 18 provide care for an adult relative; 72% are caring for a parent or grandparent, although most are not the sole caregiver. 30% of family caregivers caring for older individuals are themselves aged 65 or over; another 15% are between the ages of 45 to 54. licensing and certification for caregiving can vary by state. in some states, the only licensing needed is by the company that employs the caregivers (unless it is from the state). in other states, an online certification course is recommended. some states require in-classroom certification, and others require personal care licensing, which can be applied for online. along with that, in some states, further certifications are required such as cpr training and first aid training. some us states, such as california, have set out the responsibilities of the primary caregiver. organizations