What agency do I start with to figure out how to help parents with financial and health issues?

I'll relay my experience with my father, maybe it will be helpful. I lived with him for years and then he developed Parkinson's. I also worked and was not able to be with him for many hours during the day. For a while, maybe 3 years, he was OK alone. Eventually though, the falls became more frequent, but more significantly the dementia became worse. At some point, he was unable to be left alone anymore. The problem though, he only had his social security income and that wasn't enough to afford in home caregivers. I never became POA, there was no need, he didn't have any assets or significant income. He did add me to his checking account though and that was a big help. I could pay his bills for him. You could do that or go through the process of getting POA. Eventually he needed nursing home care. Please know that Parkinson's is progressive and eventually Dad will progress to the point of needing 24/7 care. You will not be able to provide that if you need to work. You are going to need to get Dad approved for LTC Medicaid and eventually a nursing home. I would start looking into that process now and ask his neurologist for guidance on that. I sort of ignored/or was too busy with work until it became crisis time. There will be a crisis time with you eventually as well. The other option is hiring in home health care, but it is very expensive. I could not afford it and my father's SS income would only cover limited hours, not the full time care he needed. The doctors and nurses my father had were unfortunately not helpful to me in my case. But i was also naïve and didn't proactively seek out help well in advance. I suggest you might do that, perhaps your local area on aging agency. Start preparing for getting him into a NH now. GL!

Welcome to the forum.

I recommend looking at www.nelf.org and finding a certified elder law attorney in your area that can draw up DURABLE AND MEDICAL POA for both parents. These are the forms that will allow you to legally help them. They will need to understand what they are signing at the time they are signing.

They can also give you the verbal authority to start helping them before you get all the paperwork in order.

Social security will need to be contacted separately as they have their own forms and will not honor any POA. Federal pensions have the same rules. You can become representative payee for them, beware that it requires an annual accounting and ALL of their money has to be used solely for them.

Your states attorney general website may have the forms available and they would be free. I used them for my dad and have never had a problem. Well worth checking out.

Best of luck getting this all sorted.

Start with the area on aging/alliance on aging, they can have someone perform a needs assessment and refer to you to various state and county agencies. Good luck!