The Ministry of Social Affairs will not accept elderly people into social care homes who have family members able to care for them. This is according to Dr. Abdullah Al-Yusuf, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Social Affairs for Care and Development Affairs. He stressed that the directives issued in this regard do not permit the government to care for parents who are victims of their disobedient children. He said the condition for being accepted into a home is the absence of a family member able to care for the person. Al-Yusuf said some elderly people have been accepted into social care homes because social workers have determined that they need care because their children are too young or because they have errant children. Al-Yusuf said the ministry is striving at present to carry out institutional work and to privatize social care homes. Details of this will emerge soon. He said any financial allocations left behind by a resident in the event of death will be dealt with according to the rules of the Shariah. He added that financial allocations for 30 percent of the elderly residents who have no relatives are being kept safely in the accounts of social care homes. This will only be dealt with after the resident's death. Al-Yusuf pointed out that the drop in the percentage of old people in social care homes is an important indication of the well-established and deep-rooted social relations and strong family bonds in Saudi society. He said the ministry is striving to spread social awareness through charitable societies, to achieve social stability and security for old men and women through their families. This is in addition to working on spreading a spirit of social solidarity among members of society. As for the Ministry of Social Affairs dealing with persons roaming the streets, Al-Yusuf said there is currently coordination taking place between social affairs and the Ministry of Health to provide for this segment of society. Al-Yusuf said the ministry's goal is to ensure a decent life for old people according to the teachings of the Islamic Shariah. He said old people are only 5.18 percent of the Kingdom's total population. There are only 681 old people in social care homes currently, he added.
