“What am I supposed to do for a break when there’s no one to take my place?” 66-year-old Wu Xiumin from Beijing recently expressed her struggles to a reporter from the Legal Daily.

Wu’s husband, 73, became severely disabled due to illness in 2021 and is unable to care for himself, yet he firmly refuses to move to a nursing home. Their son is tied up with work and unable to help, and hiring a live-in caregiver costs at least $1,000 a month. Consequently, Wu has to provide around-the-clock care herself. The weight of caregiving, combined with immense mental strain and a nearly complete loss of social interaction, has aged her significantly; she looks much older than her peers.

There are many families like Wu’s that require home care for disabled elderly individuals. However, an investigation by the reporter unveiled that the quality of home healthcare services varies widely in the market. Many ordinary housekeeping companies have shifted to providing home care, yet these companies often lack the necessary expertise and standardized categorizations. As a result, some caregivers offer non-professional services, even endangering the elderly’s financial and personal rights. Some caregivers refuse to assist disabled seniors or double their fees once they learn the situation. For many families, finding reliable caregiving solutions has become a significant challenge.

According to Wu Wenjing, a manager at a home care service division of Chongqing Bailing Bang Health Industry Group, home care for the elderly isn’t a simple housekeeping task. Caring for disabled seniors often necessitates well-trained, versatile caregivers, and developing such professionals incurs significant costs. Additionally, turnover rates among caregivers are high due to the complexities of family environments.

Experts suggest that the issue of elder care should not just be viewed as a private family matter; it’s a societal concern that demands collective attention and efforts. There should be targeted improvements in related elderly care services to alleviate the anxiety surrounding elder care and support families in need.

Caring for disabled seniors places an overwhelming burden on families. For example, in Guangdong, Wang Jian’s family has invested all their time and energy into caring for his grandfather, who has been unable to care for himself after a fall. Although they want him to recuperate at home, they cannot afford a professional caregiver. “Hiring someone full-time costs around $1,000, and we worry they won’t provide good care anyway,” Wang explains.

Wang’s family has to prepare specialized meals for his grandfather, who has lost his ability to chew and swallow properly. “It can take one or two hours for him to finish a meal,” he notes. Moreover, handling basic hygiene and caregiving tasks like changing bedding or helping with bathroom needs poses significant challenges. Bathing his grandfather has become a complex family affair that requires everyone’s involvement.

Mental and physical exhaustion is prevalent among families involved in this type of caregiving. Wang recounted a time when he broke his arm in an accident, leaving the family with even less capacity to support his grandfather, which made the already tough situation unbearable. Wang’s experience echoes the sentiments of families of disabled seniors interviewed by reporters; many describe the situation as “overwhelming.”

While some families try to hire caregivers due to their lack of time and energy, they often encounter unqualified assistance. Fang Yang, whose 88-year-old father has Alzheimer’s, explains that despite high costs for a caregiver, her father’s needs were not met, resulting in a dangerous situation where he wandered off unsupervised.

Liu Shuang, a 50-year-old caregiver working in Shanxi, has observed that many caregivers lack formal training. She notes, “Poor training results in caregivers with varying skill levels. Some may even fail to provide basic care like feeding or nutrition, putting the seniors at risk.”

Wu Wenjing elaborates that home care services require much more than just hiring someone to keep an eye on the elderly; it encompasses daily living assistance, medical care, emotional support, and emergency response. The time and resources necessary for training caregivers who can perform at this standard is significant, and high turnover rates remain a persistent challenge.

To address the shortage in quality caregiving, experts argue that the issue of elderly care shouldn’t fall solely on families. Instead, there needs to be more community awareness and involvement in developing comprehensive and professional care services. They advocate for better job training for caregivers and adequate support and resources to empower them in their roles.

Zheng Xiang, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, emphasizes the importance of increasing the number of qualified caregivers and addressing pay disparities that lead to high turnover. Meanwhile, community health workers in Beijing suggest integrating home care with medical support to better meet the needs of the elderly.

Li Chao from China University of Political Science and Law insists on better enforcement of the elderly rights protection law and calls for an expansion of long-term care insurance programs to fairly distribute caregiving responsibilities among individuals, families, and society as a whole.