Debunking the Shady Acres Myth

What is the Shady Acres myth? Let’s separate fact from fiction.

There is a common misconception of an eldercare Shangri-La, a lovely place to take Mom for her declining golden years. With a little searching, the children or spouse will find a healthy, comfortable, and mostly government-paid-for idyllic home, complete with rocking chairs and lemonade. “Won’t Dad just love it here!” All will be taken care of and the children or spouse will be relieved of messy caregiver and caretaker decisions and wrangling.

Caregivers and caretakers faced with challenges of eldercare quickly discover the United States is in crisis. With life expectancy rising and seventy-seven million baby boomers entering retirement age, middle-income American seniors and their family caretakers are facing enormous challenges. They look in vain for their Shady Acres.

Sorry to say, Shady Acres does not exist. Even if it did, you probably could not afford it. Most middle-income Americans are unaware of the crucial fact that the government does not generally cover long-term-care expenses. This can be distressing for the six million Americans age eighty-five and older, a number that will shoot up to more than fourteen million in 2040, according to the U.S. Census.

If a spouse needs long-term care, that is one thing, but if the care is left to one or more of the children, then that can be a sticky situation. There is no simple solution for the sandwich generation that is taking care of children and parents. As writer Jennifer Braunschweiger noted on the More website (http://www.more.com/eldercare): “There’s no prenup for eldercare, no contract in which we lay out clearly what tasks we are willing to do, how much time and money we are willing to spend and what responsibilities, if any, lie beyond the scope of the agreement.”

THRUST INTO THE ROLE OF FIDUCIARY

This book is for the caregivers and caretakers who are often thrust into the role of fiduciary, either by legal appointment or by assuming the role because of their relationship to the elderly person who needs caretaking. Typi