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If you’ve hired in home care for your loved one, you may be wondering if you should keep an eye on how things are going. The point of hiring a caregiver is to ease the burden on yourself while ensuring that your loved one is properly cared for. So is worrying really necessary?

The short answer is yes, you should check up on your loved one’s caregiver – at least in the beginning as you establish a trusting relationship with them. This will give you greater peace of mind that your loved one is in good hands. You will also feel less guilt over leaving your parent with someone else.

Tips for Checking Up on Your Parent and Their Caregiver

Here are a few discreet ways to ensure that your parent is being treated with the kindness and respect they deserve.

  • Drop in or call unexpectedly. Show the caregiver that you take an interest in your loved one’s care. When you drop in, look for signs that your parent is well taken care of: clean, fed and content. If you can’t drop by, call the caregiver and ask for updates.
  • Request a log. The caregiver should be happy to provide you with a log that briefly outlines what they did for the day. The log may include things like what your parent ate, which medications they took and their overall mood.
  • Trust your gut feelings. If you get the feeling that something isn’t right, explore why this might be the case. And if something goes wrong, investigate what happened. If you hire an agency, you can always talk to someone in charge.
  • Value your loved one’s feedback. If your parent seems genuinely unhappy with the caregiver or tells you something that sounds suspicious, take note. You should be able tell the difference between real problems and your parent just making complaints.

Though hiring an independent caregiver comes with advantages, this is where it pays to go through an agency. Agencies handle all of the groundwork for you, including interviewing, training, certification and background checks. And, if the caregiver isn’t a good fit for your loved one, you can always go with another candidate that you feel more comfortable with.