If you are the one who has the responsibility to take care of your elderly parents, you have probably researched your options and spent hours and hours on the phone and on the Internet.

You probably know that to find a permanent caregiver with references, willing to care for your parents is almost impossible. Most of the Personal Support Workers work for an agency and their services are subject to a hefty agency fee.

You read classifieds every day. You called every government office to find what help is available to you. You talked to your friends who are in the same situation.

Most likely you will hear that they hired a live-in caregiver for their parents. You will hear success stories and you will hear horror stories. And you start wondering: is this the way to go?

A Live-in caregiver will allow your parents stay at home. A Live-in caregiver will give your parents companionship and comfort in their own home.

But not just any live-in caregiver. A qualified nurse with experience or someone who already cared for people like your parents. Someone friendly and caring that can become a trusted friend to your whole family. A person who will live with your parents, take over many of your current duties, give your mother and/or father a sense of safety and of being cared for. Peace of mind for you as well as them is priceless, but it does not have to be expensive.

Finding a good caregiver takes time. You have to screen them, try to find the best match, and there must be some trust established before you allow yourself to place them so close to your parents.

The biggest disadvantage of this solution is that there are no or a few caregivers in Canada who are willing to live in the house of their employer. You would have to hire someone from abroad under the Live-in Caregiver Program established by the government to help people like you.

You can find one on the Internet or you can hire services of an agency. Both way, there is a lot of paperwork to be done and risk involved. More so if you will do it alone but even hiring an agency does not eliminate all risk.