Families can be complicated, and sometimes the behavior we witness is truly heartbreaking. Over the years, I’ve been continually stunned by the lengths some family members will go to take advantage of their loved ones. The levels of entitlement, disrespect, and even outright theft that we encounter can be difficult to comprehend.
One experience in particular has stayed with me. We were helping an elderly woman prepare for a move into assisted living so she could sell her home and use the proceeds to support her care. Unfortunately, her three adult grandchildren had been living in the basement—and when they learned they would need to move out, the situation escalated quickly. They became angry and threatening toward their grandmother, and it wasn’t unusual for them to come upstairs to take money or items they could sell to support their addictions.
When our team arrived to begin packing, their hostility intensified. The grandchildren refused to leave the home, and their behavior became so aggressive that we had no choice but to call the police. Thankfully, officers were able to remove them safely, but the threats didn’t end there. For the duration of the project, we hired an armed security guard to ensure the client—and our team—could pack and move her belongings without fear.
It’s astonishing to think that such extreme measures are sometimes necessary, especially when the conflict is coming from within the family. Experiences like this remind me how vulnerable some seniors are, and how deeply entitlement can root itself in complicated family dynamics.