The Social Welfare Department says care homes are not for anyone wanting to abandon family members.

Senior Citizens Unit representative, Adi Litiana Baleinabuli says there has been a significant interest from people wanting to place their older family members in homes.

Baleinabuli says the Department is working to find out the contributing factors that have exacerbated the need for families to leave elders in these facilities.

“When there is really no family support, then we get to consider them based on the availability of spaces in these homes, so we do have criteria for admission. There are procedures for us to undertake in order to confirm whether cases are qualified to go into the homes.”

Baleinabuli says they take in cases where people neglect their elders adding that such cases are considered abuse of elderly persons.

The Department is once again pleading for people to afford elder persons their right to be loved and respected.