What would happen to a physically helpless person if he didn't have family to take care of him?

A person paralyzed to this extent, would most likely, be placed in a nursing home & the children would probably end up in foster care. This is not the optimum solution, of course, but the government rarely looks farther than the minimum. So, unless the individual has his own personal money & can hire people to take care of him & his children – this is what will happen.

Thank you. I got curious after watching a show about hoarding. It wasn’t such an extreme situation, the (single) mom wasn’t paralyzed, but she had fibromyalgia and wasn’t able to move around much most days. The sad thing was that the (teenage) kids were pretty much fending for themselves and they were all living knee deep in garbage. The living situation was so unsafe, I kept wondering how it was allowed to go on, which made me wonder what the alternatives were. Bleh. Made me feel lucky.

I live in NZ, can only move my head and shoulders, have 9.5 hours of personal care per day (including meal prep & excluding-housework and shopping for which there are additional hours), I live alone (spend afternoons and nights alone), it is all funded by the government, I feel enormously thankful to be living in this country. Both my parents are alive and I have an adult child and lots of friends but I do not wish to be physically reliant on any of them, I want relationships to be based on other things; I’m lucky this is possible.

@Adagio You have my utmost admiration for being able to hook up with a computer and communicate. I know a lot of people that are not physically impaired that will not try to use a computer.

@chyna I operate my computer by voice activation, I was using a computer prior to my advanced physical limitations, the choice of voice activation was a no-brainer.

@Adagio, Thank you for sharing your personal experience. I’m so glad you’re able to get the help you need.

Some counties (for example the county I work in) provide at home personal care aides and nursing through Medicaid. Institutionalization is usually covered by most forms of Medicaid.

Assuming this person has children, if it’s a woman who is the paralyzed person, the government would first look to the father of the children to take care of them. If the father were deceased or unknown, the government would first look to family and friends (and I am aware that the person in question does not have family, so they would look for friends who might know the child and would want to take the child). If the paralyzed person were the father, they would look to the mother and her family to take the children.

People often assume the government is looking to take children into foster care immediately. Foster care is the last option, and not an easy option regardless of circumstances. An easier (less labor intensive) option is always to place the child through formal custody (i.e. Family Court) with family or friends.