When family ties become a dreadful burden | Letters

Readers respond to an article on having to care for parents if you had a complicated relationship with them

Stephanie Woods is right to draw attention to how hard it can be to care for someone who didn’t care for you (The impossible task of caring for ageing parents who did not care for you, 20 March). While some carers find it a privilege to look after someone they’ve had a loving relationship with, others feel trapped by a sense of duty, or by societal expectations, to care for someone they aren’t close to or who doesn’t value them.

Changes to how social care support is funded and provided cannot come soon enough for anyone who feels that they have no choice but to care. In reality, if unpaid family carers stopped providing daily practical and emotional support to people living with dementia, there would be chaos. There are simply not enough professional home-based carers, care home places, or hospital beds, to manage the consequences of thousands of vulnerable people left alone and at risk in their own homes.