When Elderly Parents Sabotage Caregivers

Six Steps to Keep In-Home Care on Track

Seven months pregnant with her first child, Chris McGill, who lives 600 miles away, flew to her mother's rescue when the third in-home caregiver agency resigned in despair. Two long weeks later, a fourth agency was up and running and Chris returned home with a growing sense of dread.

That baby is now almost three, and Chris' mother is on her seventh set of caregivers – yes, seventh. There seems to be no end in sight except to the number of agencies willing to give it a try. And that number is dropping rapidly. Each time her mother fires another caregiver, or another agency withdraws, Chris flies in from afar to start over. Obviously, the strain is taking a toll, both on Chris' family and her relationship with her mother, who she dearly loves.

Has your parent fired yet another caregiver, because they don't want anyone but you? Is your mother so unpleasant to everyone who comes in to help that they've all quit, saying, "There's just no way to please her? All the tea in China couldn’t keep me here!"

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