Written by Samantha Harrison, Founder, Momentum Family Strategies
Dear Editor,
When you hear about a 90-year-old CareGIVER, you might assume the 90-year-old is the one receiving care.
If that’s what you’re thinking, you’d be wrong.
Recently, I worked with a family where a 90-year-old parent was still the primary caregiver for an adult child with developmental disabilities. There were no formal services in place. No long-term supports. No outside help.
For decades, the family had simply figured things out one day at a time.
What made this situation especially striking is that the disability service system didn’t even know this family existed. They had never connected with it. And they are far from alone.
Across Kentucky and in communities like ours, there are aging parents in their 80s and 90s quietly supporting adult children with disabilities at home without a clear path for what happens next.
Most of the time, these situations remain invisible until something forces attention — a hospitalization, a sudden health crisis, or the loss of the caregiver.
As our population ages, more families will face this reality.
We need to start talking about it now — helping families understand what resources exist and encouraging conversations about the future before a crisis occurs.
Because behind many closed doors, a 90-year-old CAREGIVER is still holding everything together.
If you are caring for a loved one with disabilities and beginning to wonder what happens when you can no longer do it alone, you are not the only family asking that question.
The real question now is whether we will keep waiting for crisis to force action, or whether we will finally build the momentum needed to help families plan for the future before it’s too late.
Samantha Harrison
Founder, Momentum Family Strategies