The Taiwanese Association of Family Caregivers: transformation in the long-term care debate for carers

Accepting political appointment from the government is a double-edged sword for an advocacy group, which could mean a chance to influence policies or conflicts with other advocacy groups. The Taiwanese Association of Family Caregivers (TAFC) went through such a process of transformation when it was appointed as a member of a formal committee set up by the Taiwanese government in 2009 in order to develop and implement a long term care insurance scheme. We named this process TAFC's awakening because this opportunity served as a catalyst for TAFC to confirm its identity as a representative of carers, speaking solely from the carer's perspective.