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Adoption Tinder
4 years ago
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Idea
Shubhankar Kulkarni Oct 23, 2020
Adopt an elderly
Image credit: Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
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The main reason: To eliminate loneliness
Just like the agency or the mother who wants someone to adopt her baby decide who can adopt it, the elderly can review the profiles of their potential adopters and choose the best fit. The adopter, too, can decide whom they want to adopt. The process goes ahead only when there is a match.
Advantages:
- The single elderly get to have "their own people"
- They are mature to share with. They can share their wisdom.
- Ease the financial expenditure of the elderly (medications, treatment, etc.)
- If your work doesn't allow you time to invest in the young ones, you can adopt an elderly They don't need to be potty-trained :)
- Adopting a baby can be overwhelming. Can be too high a moral and mental responsibility for some. Adopting an elderly avoids that.
- To do your due to society. We live with people who make the environment we live in. Making someone from your environment feel welcome in your home and loving them can be a way of repaying.
- You get to be a care-free kid again :)
Of course, there are a number of problems you will face when you think of adopting an elderly:
- We need to define the fate of the elderly person's property after their death. This is one of the most crucial legal issues that can arise. What if they have kids (even they haven't spoken to them in decades), ex-spouse?
- Can you adopt a couple?
- Defining the duties of the elderly in the new home
There are organizations that let you adopt a grandparent but that means that you pay for their monthly requirements. Are there any organizations that let you bring the elderly home with you?
Let me know the advantages and also the problems associated with the idea. Solutions to the problems are also welcome.
1
Creative contributions
Two birds with one stone
Why not match up orphans and lonely elders?
This way, both the older people and children get to feel like they are part of a family again. Obviously, just like with your original idea, it will rely on intensive screening and won't be suitable for everyone. But there are many benefits. Except for the main goal of reducing loneliness, there could also be financial benefits for the state, in that they would be able to allocate resources to one place, instead of old age homes and orphanages they could focus on one institution that takes care of both.
That all being said, perhaps a more feasible idea would be to pair rescue animals with both elders and orphans. They would provide great companionship and it would help with the number of animals without homes.
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General comments
Shubhankar Kulkarni2 years ago
This contribution is also relevant here.
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Vishal Chamling4 years ago
I think this is a benevolent idea. Just like how to be parents are screened before adoption of children, the to be 'children' may also be screened before adoption of the elderly. I see this as a possibility and would like to state a single example here. There are nurses and care givers as a profession. They seek out the job because of their passion, the benefit is of course the salary. Now if these nurses or care givers are given an opportunity to take in elderly for adoption with monetary benefits (which the elderly can afford) I think they would gladly do it. If this becomes an alternative method of earning while following the passion..it can become a win-win situation for both the care giver and the elderly. However, I think only trained and verified candidates should be screened at early stage of implementation of this idea.
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Anja M4 years ago
Like you wrote before, perhaps the problem would be that not every elderly person could be adopted due to the special care they would need and that not anyone can provide, or at least can provide that long-term as they would need. But, maybe some "middle gorund" solution can be possible. Just now I remembered I read somewhere a couple of years ago that in Paris, due to a large number of students for whom the nuber of eligible dorms is not enough, and quite costly monthly expenses should they decide to rent a flat, they started sort of an agency which connects the elderly living alone and students. They don't pay rent, you give a fixed amount of money for some shared bills (but definitely smaller than if you lived on your own), but the whole relationship functions on a sort of a mutual agreement. E.g. you go buy groceries, take trash, etc. (probably all the things the older person cannot do as swiftly as before) and in return are provided with accommodation, food, etc. I cannot remember everything in details, I will post a link if I find it.
Maybe this idea can function on the same principle: both of you have to meet certain criteria before you can get to be a potential "match". This may exclude the elderly in need of a special daily care where medical assistance of a sort would be more appropriate, but I don't think that would present much of a loss, since there would still be many of those who are alone and would love company. On the other hand, I am curious to know how many younger people would find the idea attractive enough. Most of the people love their grandparents, but can also get easily annoyed on those petty levels when they would prefer to tell you a story at length, or ask you many questions. This irritation often happens when we reach puberty and are older.
However, a nice and humane idea in general. :)
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Martina Pesce4 years ago
Great cool idea!
Since the main objective is to eliminate loneliness (and not just the economical factor) another problem could be that very often if the elder has an actual home, he/she would probably rather not to leave it.
I think it would be cool if this is the case, the adopter actually goes to live with the elder.
It even solves the eventual economical problems of the adopter.
To solve the "the elder may die from one day to another one" problem, it can be decided before they start that the house is gonna be usable by the adopter for X time after the elder death, so the adopter can organize him/her self out.
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Povilas S4 years ago
I think this is a great idea. The main problem I see is that many elders (who would need adoption the most) have physical or more importantly mental dysfunctions and have been placed in elderly care often by their own families. And they won't grow up like kids, they will need care till their death. Also, those elders who are still healthy and clearheaded enough but live alone can develop those conditions later, so there's this kind of responsibility coming with adoption because first adopting and then giving to a retirement home is a bit ironic for lack of a better word.
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