Aging is a natural part of life, and with advances in medicine and technology, we are living longer than ever. As a concerned family member, you may see changes your family member is experiencing as he or she ages.

Watching activity levels decline and memory-related issues increase can be heart breaking.

Finding help can be even more frustrating when you don’t know where to turn.

You are not alone. Many families feel the stress and anxiety of trying to help a parent* decide the next step in their lives. You may not know how to approach the topic of assisted living with your parent, your siblings or other people involved in the decision-making process.

This information is designed to provide insight about the emotions you may experience when choosing and what to expect after making the decision about which assisted living facility best meets your parent’s needs. At the end of this booklet is a glossary of assisted living terms you may hear as you begin to look for a facility, checklists for comparing the costs of staying at home versus moving into an assisted living facility, and a list of resources you can use to gather more information about assisted living and the moving process.

We also address some of the emotions you may experience throughout the searching process. Your parents, siblings and other family members may have strong, and sometimes opposing, opinions about the choices available. Addressing these emotions and concerns is crucial to everyone’s peace of mind.

* We realize that sometimes it is not a parent, but an aunt, uncle or grandparent. For the purposes of this booklet, we use “parent” to refer to the older adult in question.