A Growing Concern - Senior Caregivers For Graying Children.

A significant and growing proportion of caregivers are those elderly who take care of adult children.

A significant and growing proportion of caregivers are those elderly who take care of adult children. These parents had children with developmental disabilities and they have cared for their children for many decades right up to their senior years. They had started when they were young, spirited and protective of their babies. They have selflessly sacrificed time, money and energy over the years. They still have the spirit and courage. However they no longer have the same strength and health but provide care, sometimes faltering but as best as they can, out of sheer determination. It is plain that they need support in this situation: physical, financial and psychological.

These senior caregivers care for adult children with either developmental disabilities or chronic mental illness and in each case are presented with distinctive pressures; that too at an age when they themselves may need certain services. The number of parents in their 70s and 80s providing care and guardianship to a son or daughter is growing as life expectancy of disabled individuals improves to the 60s and more. These parents worry about their children's future care when they can no longer manage the exertion or pass away.

The parents have been through years of grief when their child did not reach developmental milestones with others their age, which may have caused their health to deteriorate. Physical assistance in ADLs they have provided over the years takes its toll too. Their children may experience an accelerated decline in health, sometimes up to the parent's stage or more, resulting in twice the effort to care for the parent-child pair, instead of just dealing with their own old age. The extra financial burden of providing necessities and medical needs for the child's entire lifetime is augmented with diminutive retirement plans and lost income if constant stay-home care was necessitated.

With parents of children with chronic mental illness, sporadic outbursts such as delusions, mood swings and aggression make the caregiving unpredictable. Sadly, society often alienates such families, and they too may voluntarily isolate themselves to avoid embarrassment. They jeopardize their relationship with other children and relatives, trying to fulfill their responsibilities. They risk aggression and abuse from their mentally ill child.

Both the aged parents and the adult children are in need of certain facilities. The disabled adult needs supplementary care besides the parent, such as a residential program, perhaps suited to both parent and child. It's important that they stay together as long as possible so they can take advantage of mutual support - for the parent too would yearn to know of the wellbeing of their cherished offspring. The adult child would need additional formal caregiving services such as medication, physiotherapy or other daily routine assistance.

The child receives these services as a client; however the parents and family too need support from the community. Patient centered care often ignores the sensibilities of the caregiver, although they deserve admiration for their indefatigable efforts. Not to mention the public expenditure they save by assuming caregiver responsibilities and spending all that time and money. Legal guidance and guardianship information can assist older parents with plans for their child's future care. Parents will greatly benefit from clinical intervention as well, such as psychoeducational family models of treatment and techniques such as life review.

Source: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/665280_a-growing-concern-senior-caregivers-for-graying-children

midnight madness john henry john henry zack greinke zack greinke siri san diego news