ABSTRACT
In this chapter I explore the accounts of adult children caring for a parent with dementia. Dementia is typically understood to be an umbrella term for a large number of conditions, the most common of which are Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and fronto-temporal dementia. These are progressive – ultimately terminal – conditions that affect memory, communication, mood and behaviour. I examine the accounts of interactions with parents with dementia that fracture and reconfigure normative familial relationships. In so doing I suggest that, in the absence of a primary spousal carer, caring for a person living with dementia can necessitate particular issues for adult children that trouble notions of how we understand familial roles, responsibilities and ‘duties’. This issue impacts a significant minority of British adults. There are estimated to be 670,000 informal family carers of people living with a dementia in the UK (Alzheimer’s Society 2014). The total cost of dementia to UK society is estimated to be £26.3 billion, with £11.6 billion being contributed by the work of unpaid carers (Prince et al. 2014). Unpaid care to older or disabled people provided by a family member is typically understood to encompass personal care and/or practical household tasks and/or paperwork and administrative duties.
