Sharing Family Caregiver Responsibilities with Other Family Members

Elder Care in Newton, MA – When Your Elderly Parent Needs Care at Home, Lessen the Load by Dividing Responsibilities

Providing ongoing care for your aging parents is incredibly rewarding. It is an opportunity to spend additional time with your loved ones and give back for all of the time, energy, and love that they gave you as you were growing up. Depending on the cognitive and physical challenges they have, and the amount of care they require, however, it can also be time-consuming and difficult. Sharing these responsibilities with other family members is a great way to ensure they get all of the care that they need while taking some of the pressure off of you.

Whether you have been caring for your parents for years, are just getting started, or divide the care with a non-medical in-home caregiver, if you feel that other family members should get involved in the care of your senior parents, it is important to be honest with everyone involved. Let your parents know how you are feeling, and plan a way to discuss your needs with your family so you all know what to expect.

Sharing caregiving responsibilities with your siblings is a natural choice and working together to provide this care is a wonderful way to maintain family connections and create lasting memories. When it is time to discuss the need to divide up the care needs, go into the conversation prepared to offer your recommendations and make agreements so everyone is on the same page.

If you do not think that it will be too stressful for your parents, involve them in the conversation so they can let you know how they feel about the different care tasks and who may be able to handle them best. If not, make the decisions privately and then share them with your parents so they always feel that they are kept in the family loop.

When making decisions, keep these things in mind:

• Will there be a “primary” family caregiver or will everyone share in the responsibilities equally?
• Will each person take on specific duties or will you rotate the jobs according to a daily schedule?
• How will you divide financial responsibilities?
• Who determines which responsibilities should be left to the caregiver if there is one?
• What happens if one person has a conflict and cannot provide scheduled care?
• Do each of you have the right to bring in additional care or add an extra day to the referred caregiver’s duties if needed or do you all need to agree?
• What will you do if you notice that one person is not fulfilling his responsibilities properly?

When it comes to sharing family caregiving responsibilities with your siblings or other family members, communication and dependability are essential. Consider setting up monthly meetings with the others in your family caregiving team to discuss your parents, their care, and anything that needs to change so you all feel involved and can express your thoughts. This ensures you work together to give your elderly parents the highest quality of life while enjoying your time together as a family.