Family and friend carers play a critical yet often under-recognised role in aged care. While policy and service frameworks draw neat delineations between aged care, health care and mental health care, the lived reality of carers extends well beyond a single system. This contribution explores how family and friend carers operate at the intersection of aged care, health, disability and mental health systems, navigating complex and fragmented environments on behalf of those they support. Drawing on data from the National Carer Survey and practice insights, this contribution shows that carers provide continuity across service transitions, compensate for system gaps and undertake extensive coordination work that is rarely visible or formally supported. Carers frequently manage overlapping needs related to ageing, chronic illness, mental health, disability and social connectedness, all while balancing employment, family responsibilities and their own wellbeing. Our research further examines how system silos create additional demands on carers, requiring them to become navigators, advocates and informal case managers. Our findings demonstrate that the complexity of caring across multiple support systems negatively impacts how carers perceive their inclusion and efficacy in aged care services and that this complexity creates negative outcomes in terms of wellbeing and distress for carers navigating more than one system. Our findings illustrate that caring is not a static role but a dynamic process shaped by broader system design, eligibility criteria and access barriers. Integrated, carer-inclusive approaches across systems are essential to improve outcomes for both carers and the people they support.