🧶 Foster care // Acolhimento Familiar (EN/PT-BR)

My family currently consists of only 2 elderly people, my grandmother, my mother's mother, and my grandfather, my father's father, both my mother's father and my father's mother have passed away, my grandmother from skin cancer, and my grandfather had a cardiac arrest when I was 3 years old.

My grandfather, my father's father, lives alone and is 83 years old, but he is in excellent health. He has no memory problems or anything else that indicates weakness. My grandmother, my mother's mother, lives with my aunt, me and a younger cousin. She is 71 years old, but her vision is not good. She has had many mental problems that we are seeing specialists for. Every day it is getting harder to live with and take care of her. My aunt and I both work. My cousin is 14 years old, too young to be responsible for living alone at home with a lady who could accuse her at any moment of trying to do her harm. I say this because it was not the first time it happened. Despite this, most of the time she forgets what I did or said, and sits with us at the table for meals and to watch movies and series in the living room. Her favorite program was a circus that was on before, but now I don't even remember it anymore.

She currently takes medication for diabetes and an antipsychotic, when we can give it to her. This is because most of the time she throws this medication away, and even accuses it of being poison for her, so it's kind of hard to say that she wouldn't say the same about a professional. Of course, they have a whole method for dealing with things like this, and I think they would even be more patient, but in the end, the feeling of letting go of a family member, especially the oldest member, is difficult. We continue to help her as much as possible, always.

I think the time will come when we will have to leave her in the hands of professionals. We all have to move on with our lives. Forgetting her will never be an option, but when we love someone very much, we have to know how to let them go. I believe that everyone in my family is already preparing themselves mentally and emotionally for this, whether it will come sooner or later. At least we will have her here for Christmas and the coming New Year.

I think it all depends on the situation the person finds themselves in, few family members willing to take care of the elderly person, the conditions of the elderly person themselves, I believe that everything is a process, so I am neutral when it comes to reaching a good decision about what would be right here.

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