If someone is not of sound mind, who's decision is it whether or not they go into a care home after being recommended by social services?

Is the person a danger to themself or not properly cared for? That should be the issue. If the person is properly cared for, that should be all social services is interested in. If the person needs more care than he or she can get at home, then they may have a case.

Having a POA for health care (health directive) and for financial issues helps so much in these cases. I'm assuming, from the question, that one is not available. So the determining factor will likely be if the person can be cared ore outside of the nurisng home in a way social services sees appropriate.

Carol

Thanks Carol. She is married, so as her next of kin does her husband have the final say in terms of whether she goes into a home or not?

First of all, what is your relationship to this person?

Second, how healthy is the husband and is he capable of taking care of her?

Third, dose anyone have power of atty, durable and medical?

Fourth, has a doctor determined that she is not of a sound mind?

Fifth, has someone filed for guardianship in her behalf?

Sixth, do they have any children and does she have any living siblings?

I think that unless the situation is like mine where I have POA for my mother, then the husband just might have some say in whether she goes into a home or not?

I once knew of a eldery couple who could no longer take care of themselves living in a trailer. Their children and step-children drove down from out of state and did nothing. Their doctor wrote them each up an order which got each of them into a nursing home. I've never seen such utter abandonment of the elderly and you should have seen the expensive cars and clothes of their children and step-children.

To answer that question you will have to research the laws in your state. Massachusetts has recently changed its laws. A Durable Power Attorney gives authority to make decisions if the an individual is not able but does not trump the decisions of the individual unless a court has decreed him/her incapacitated. In MA, a guardianship can be ordered for personal oversight but a conservatorship must be ordered for financial oversight. The rights of the individual are carefully protected by the new laws. I recommend seeing an attorney or speaking to your protective services authority if you feel that a loved one is unsafe to make their own decisions. You are wise to find out what the law says.