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Family & Parenting

We are considering residential care for my parent and I feel like a traitor for even looking into it. Is it wrong?


Old TestamentGenesis 47:11-12

And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families.

When Jacob arrives in Egypt as an old man, Joseph does not move him into his own house. He settles his father in Goshen, the best land available, and arranges provision there for him and the whole family. The narrative treats this as devoted care rather than as abandonment. Joseph's honoring of his father took the form of arranging the right place instead of personally doing everything himself.

New TestamentJohn 19:26-27

When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

From the cross, with only hours left, Jesus looks at his mother and at the disciple standing beside her and assigns her care to him. It is one of the last things he does. He does not provide that care personally; he makes sure it is provided by someone able to give it. Entrusting a parent's care to those better placed appears in Scripture as an act of love, not a failure of it.


A path forward

  1. Get the medical facts written down: what your parent needs daily, overnight, and in an emergency. Guilt thrives on vagueness, and most families find the gap between the need and their capacity is not close.

  2. Involve your parent in the decision as far as their capacity allows, and be honest with them about why. Being told the truth by someone who loves you is more dignifying than being managed kindly.

  3. Decide now what your presence will look like afterward, the visits, the calls, the birthdays, and write it into the calendar. Ask your church whether anyone visits residents there. Honoring continues after the move, and the specifics are what turn guilt back into care.


Closing verse

And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

- Isaiah 46:4

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