All articles
Subject 08
A subject of the publication
Family, independence and consent
Who decides, who is asked, and how a family shares the weight without taking over.
Newest first
What we have published on this subject.
Each piece names the department it belongs to; the same subject can be reached from several questions.
- Keeping up with a parent's life from far away, and whose news it is to shareWhat Irish guidance and an Ontario home care organisation say about asking a person's consent before their information is shared, and a UK charity's view that newer forms of help for older people should not be seen as a substitute for human contact.Family and consentFrom far away
- Who your parent names as next of kin, and what that does not meanInformation from Ireland and England describes next of kin as someone a person chooses, who need not be a relative. What being named should mean, and why it is not the same as deciding for them.Family and consentFrom far away
- Before anything new comes into a parent's home, whose decision it isWhatever is being suggested, the starting point is your parent's say. How families can raise it, listen, and leave the decision where it belongs.Family and consentThe conversation
- Decisions about a parent, made with a parentNICE guidance in England asks adult social care professionals to involve the person in every decision about them, and to ask who else they want involved.Family and consentThe conversation
- The one who lives nearestThis piece is for the person care has come to rest on, who in the US, the National Institute on Aging says, tends to be a spouse or the older person's child or sibling who lives closest.Family and consentLooking after yourself
How we source
Carefulness, made visible.
Named, not counted
Each piece names its sources and tags each one Primary or Secondary. It never counts sources at you.
Under-claiming on purpose
Where no authority sets a threshold, we say so rather than inventing one.
Naming the limit
Every piece names where its authority ends, and who to ask instead.