Background:
The material in this section was derived from many months of qualitative research with children who were living with a parent’s dementia. Along with several additional authors, Tiffany Chow, M.D. and Katherine Nichols published “When Dementia is in the House: Needs Assessment Survey for Young Caregivers” in the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. Based on the research they conducted, Tiffany and Katherine created a website that was translated into three languages by collaborators who wanted to help disseminate this critical information.
For you, the parent:
Parenting represents one of life’s most challenging endeavors. If you manage this while fulfilling the myriad demands of a caregiver to a severely ill spouse, you need support. It’s easy to let the emotional needs of your children, who may present themselves as quite independent, slip away in favor of fundamental safety, financial survival, or life and death decisions. But your children require even more of your attention and affection during this time. So this site, drawing on comments from real child-caregivers to loved ones with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), offers tips to help you navigate unfamiliar territory. Because everyone is relying on you.