About
Family Caregiver Practical Guide is a small set of practical articles for adults in the United States who are helping an aging parent.
The guides cover the ordinary problems that show up between appointments: gathering paperwork, talking with a parent about needing help, dividing tasks with siblings, comparing help at home with assisted living, estimating what care costs, and noticing caregiver burnout. They are written in plain language. Each one has a table or checklist a family can copy, and each one links to public sources.
Who it is for
The site is written for adult children. It is also useful for anyone coordinating care for an older parent. Examples talk about mothers and fathers. Many of the same questions apply to a parent-in-law or another older relative. Programs and legal authority still depend on that person's situation and on the state where they live.
The guides use a United States frame of reference: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans' benefits, and state law. If your parent lives in another country, a checklist may still help you list what to gather, but the programs named here will not match.
Who publishes it
The publisher is Family Caregiver Practical Guide. It is not a clinic, a law firm, a financial advisory firm, an insurance agency, or a government office. Most guides are published without a personal byline. How to Talk to Your Aging Parent About Needing Help is written in Ellen Carter's voice, from her own family's caregiving.
How the guides are meant to be used
Read the guide that matches the decision in front of you. Copy the checklist. Talk with your parent while they can still say what they want. Then confirm medical, legal, and financial steps with a qualified professional. The disclaimer is the full statement of those limits.
What this site does
It publishes general information and checklists. Diagnosis, facility placement, benefit calculations, tax results, and legal documents belong with a qualified professional who can look at your parent's situation.
This site does not take payment and does not ask for bank details, passwords, insurance numbers, or medical records. Some guides mention a workbook by name. This website does not sell that book and does not process orders.
Public services named in the guides, including the Eldercare Locator, Medicare, and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, are independent of this site.
Where to go next
The six guides are listed on the home page. You can also read the disclaimer, the privacy policy, and the contact page. Those links are in the header and footer of every page.