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Clearly, few people clicked on the thread link. Had they done so, they'd have noted that this wasn't a "hoarder" with "stacked books blocking" ingress or egress, thus creating a fire hazard. They were all shelved. So it was no one's damn business how many books he had.
As for the "clinical licensed social workers," give me a very large break. Hospital or privately-employed social workers are one thing. But the vast majority of social workers who manage these community cases are county employees.
The idea of an army of 8 social workers "demanding to inspect the house" is abhorrent. Most likely, someone called the county's adult protective department, and someone there should have attempted to contact the son with any concerns.
Regardless, the man is still in his own home--and he still has his books.
Just now I was reading a thread where someone knows an 85 year old living by himself.
He had bad fall. Suddenly he was swarmed with Social Workers who said his beloved collection of books is hazardous.
Luckily his son got the Social Workers off his back, else they would have forced him into a facility.
Can someone explain. Are we in Nazi Germany where people are forced out of their homes and put away like this (it seems those in elderly facility are as good as dead)
Books are only tip of the iceberg, you don't know the half of it my dear:
Basically it all grows out of statues written by (supposedly) well meaning (mostly white) Protestants who believed in "saving" the poor or anyone else they deemed unable to take care of themselves, from themselves.
Social workers have long been drawn from a certain class of white Protestant (and others) who have a thing about the poor, mentally unstable or whatever. That is they are sort of doing God's work by going into people's homes and interfering in their lives. Granted in some instances this is warranted (abuse/neglect of children, disabled, seniors, etc...), but often a very heavy handed approach is used. Worse since it derives from legal action (the courts) once begun it is nearly impossible to stop without lengthy legal process.
They are not qualified in terms of nursing, medicine or occupational therapy.
You are better of with your family doctor backed up by a qualified Community Nurse and a properly trained occupational therapist who understands such issues rather than idiotic social workers.
Riiiii-iiight...because that's not their job. Their job is to help IDENTIFY and PROCURE the services you need and are qualified for. Then they stay in touch to see what future needs develop.
Geriatric social workers aren't expected to provide any type of hands on medical care or medical advice. Their job is to help oversee and coordinate needed services; medical, social, help with finances and most importantly that their client's home environment is safe.
Exactly. And an unsafe household because of the way the books are arranged is far from a medical problem.
Clearly, few people clicked on the thread link. Had they done so, they'd have noted that this wasn't a "hoarder" with "stacked books blocking" ingress or egress, thus creating a fire hazard. They were all shelved. So it was no one's damn business how many books he had.
As for the "clinical licensed social workers," give me a very large break. Hospital or privately-employed social workers are one thing. But the vast majority of social workers who manage these community cases are county employees.
The idea of an army of 8 social workers "demanding to inspect the house" is abhorrent. Most likely, someone called the county's adult protective department, and someone there should have attempted to contact the son with any concerns.
Regardless, the man is still in his own home--and he still has his books.
Now, there are 8 social workers. Why not 200? Remember in the original story that the social worker(s) never threatened to make him leave the house on condition of the books. The author injected the opinion that they would raise the ante by finding other problems with his home in order to make him leave. A lot of the political stuff (and this story qualified) is full of made up elements even if there is factual base to the story.
I know a lot of social workers, and not a one of them has the time nor energy to do stupid stuff like try to kick an old man out of his house for having too many books. That's just ridiculous. Stop making up nonsense without all the facts. IME, the only people who dislike social workers are the sorts of people who see the devil in every rule and regulation. The sorts of people who won't wear their seatbelts cuz the guvmint ain't gonna tell 'em what to do.
Okay so "Guardianship and trust abuse are well-documented locally and nationally." If someone make a bad CHOICE in their lawyer or guardian, bad things can happen. If someone doesn't make a CHOICE, then a court appointed guardian can be the worse case scenario.
As for the NYT article:
"For Ms. Funke, that call came from the management of her building, after she didn’t respond to court motions to evict her for hoarding."
"When the city workers entered her apartment that day, they found her malnourished, dehydrated, unaware that she was under eviction proceedings or that she had not paid the rent in months. There was almost no food in the apartment, and clutter throughout."
"She could not say how she got in her mental state; maybe it had to do with a lack of sleep. “I was eating less and less,” she recalled later. “I had pasta, and when I ran out of sauce I used Worcestershire sauce. There were cans of tuna but I couldn’t find a can opener, so I used a hammer and an awl."
In a NYC apartment, if you live next to a hoarder, you will have cockroaches and rats!
Newspapers, books, papers and clutter are primed living conditions for cockroaches. This woman needed help. For her neighbors sake, if not for hers.
BTW, you know a social worker and a guardian are two different positions?
I had two social worker experiences. One was great and second not so great.
When my mother moved into her assisted living facility, she told everyone (including the social workers) that we refused to return her art supplies to her. Not true. My mother could no longer handle a pen or paint brush. She had a stroke from which is never fully recovered. We had to sell her house quickly to pay for her assisted living facility. We asked her what to do with her art supplies and she said to throw them out. We did.
One social worker believed her. She kept after us on why we stole my mothers supplies. Finally, I had the head of nursing explain my mother's condition. I guess it was better that she started out trying to protect my mother.
The second social worker got my position right away.
Clearly, few people clicked on the thread link. Had they done so, they'd have noted that this wasn't a "hoarder" with "stacked books blocking" ingress or egress, thus creating a fire hazard. They were all shelved. So it was no one's damn business how many books he had.
As for the "clinical licensed social workers," give me a very large break. Hospital or privately-employed social workers are one thing. But the vast majority of social workers who manage these community cases are county employees.
The idea of an army of 8 social workers "demanding to inspect the house" is abhorrent. Most likely, someone called the county's adult protective department, and someone there should have attempted to contact the son with any concerns.
Regardless, the man is still in his own home--and he still has his books.
I clicked on the link and read the story. The man's books were never removed, we have no evidence that they would have ever been removed, the man wasn't removed from his house, no changes were made to his house or his living conditions, and he is still living there, mowing his lawn, singing in the church choir, and enjoying his books.
What probably happened is that, as when my mom fell and broke her hip, after he went home, several social and therapy workers came to his house, inspected it and made recommendations - which may have included something about a lot of books. Social workers also made recommendations to my parents about potential risks in the house. But they didn't force anything or make anyone do anything.
The writer of that post didn't even have first hand hearsay - only his or her own personal opinion - regarding whether or not the elderly man "would have been forced out of his home like in Nazi Germany" or even forced to get rid of some books. The writer doesn't even say that the man's son said anything like this. It's nothing but conjecture.
The writer of that post didn't even have first hand hearsay - only his or her own personal opinion - regarding whether or not the elderly man "would have been forced out of his home like in Nazi Germany" or even forced to get rid of some books. The writer doesn't even say that the man's son said anything like this. It's nothing but conjecture.
Right. The OP was basically a mad-at-the-world-looking-for-the-culprit vent without much knowledge to back it up. Unfortunately, it will now be searchable forever unless a mod removes it.
I work with quite a few social workers and IMO they are, on the whole, the most amazingly resourceful people who are genuinely interested in helping their clients. There's too much nonsense in this thread to try and refute it all. If you don't want a social worker helping you, that's fine. I'll take one in a New York minute if I ever need one.
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