How can I get my elderly friend's children and sister to help take care of her?
By Carol O'Dell, Caring.com contributing editor
Last updated:
October 20, 2008
1whoseesclearly
said...
over 3 years ago
In reading this story, my first question is why are you her guardian and executor and not one of these family members? It seems to me that sometime in the past they abdicated their responsibiiities, and you allowed it by taking them on. When you take on guardianship, you become the parent and responsible person -- no matter how old your ward is. Too late to whine now, though family advisor thinks you'll be able to get the family involved, I'm living in the real world and I'll tell you right now the only way those kids are going to come around is if there's something in it for them -- if they had any sense of responsibility or love for their mom, they'd already be involved. The sister is probably doing as much as she is able already.
If you can't continue to provide care and supervision, you need to make arrangements for this to be taken care of. You, not them, and you took on that responsibility a while back, so you need to live up to it now -- the other choice is to resign and toss the ball back to the kids even if they don't want it . . . .