Should we report missing jewellery to Care agency?

[Madridmum]

My Mum (85) has had private carers going in twice a day for just over a year now.
Apart from the odd moan about this & that she is generally happy & we feel much more reassured knowing people are going in every day.
The other day she went to put on some earrings for a special occasion & noticed that some jewellery has gone missing. In total - 2 pairs of earrings, a necklace & a bracelet (all gold).
We have searched the house & they are definitely not there.
There is no way of knowing when they went missing as she admits she hasn’t worn jewellery, or looked in the box for several months. There have probably been 10-12 different people who have been in over the last year so it’s impossible to pinpoint.
We have moved the jewellery box out of sight & made sure any other valuables are well hidden/have taken some home.
The question is - should we let the Care Agency know, so they have it on record, without actually saying we are accusing anyone of stealing? (even though we know someone has!)
I am so angry but feel helpless as to what can be done…..

No advice really, sorry, but I can definitely sympathize. All my grandmother’s jewellery was stolen by carers, including my late grandfather’s signet ring, which was very upsetting as it was generations old.

I do feel that care agencies should just advise families to lock all valuables away. It never occurred to us until it was too late.

I feel it should just be general knowledge now. All my grandmother’s jewellery was stolen, too. While she was in hospital, they also came back and ransacked the cupboards of abything else of value.

Camera..... and a safe!

Yes - we are cursing ourselves as just didn’t think, we are obviously far too trusting!
is it legal to have a camera ? Would we have to tell them?

Thats absolutely terrible Sassylemonfish.
Have made a mental note though if she is ever in hospital to remove the key from the keysafe box!

yes there is a legal implication, particularly if recording. I believe you need to register with ICO (don’t quote me though).

Just take everything of value completely out of the house. Do it now. It’s too much of a temptation for carers on minimum wage.

Yes. All mum’s jewellery was nicked, could have been any of the carers.

Even if there's nothing like jewellry to steal, we found that carers would steal my MiL's cigarettes. (We'd bulk buy them for her at duty free.) I think it's a given if you have low paid carers coming into a house with a vulnerable elderly person that things are going to go walkies unfortunately.

It happened to my mother.

Another carer alerted me to the fact that one of her colleagues - whose brother lived only a few doors away from my mother - was being taken to court for conning another client out of a substantial sum of money. The same carer had begged me to take all of Mum's jewellery out of the house.

I should have listened.

I couched it in terms of "If anyone sees.." but the care company was not happy. Said Mum would have to be fingerprinted!

I informed Mum's social worker, but elected not to push for the police to come in - didn't want Mum to know that my grandmother's wedding ring was gone. (Mum had dementia.)

The care company defended the crooked carer: the civil case was all a 'misunderstanding'. However, the court found in favour of the other client.

The care company had not informed the council/social work. Our social worker contacted the Care Commission and the carer was struck off.

I'm not saying that it was retaliation, but when Mum had to go to hospital for a fracture, the company claimed they could no longer provide Mum's care.

Another company was happy to step in.

BTW, the crooked carer also tried to con me out of money, by claiming that her sister was terminally ill.

A couple of years later, I bumped into the sister in hospital - she was visiting. She told me she'd been cured by 'angel therapy', so she was obviously in on it.

You don't have to register with ico but do have to tell them. We had them with my in-laws and my dad has them. We have them in our house for security reasons

Just put a cctv in operation sign in the front window. Thats all we were told to do by police.

Yes. It happens in care homes too. Elderly people are fair game it seems.
I know so many people whose elderly relatives have had jewellery, valuables, money stolen.
I know of a couple of terminally ill people who were fooled or coerced into changing their wills in favour of the carer.

I could have written this. My grandmother’s jewellery was also stolen by carers, including a piece of extreme sentimental value to my dad and a ring that should have come to me in due course. To people reading- lock up the jewellery and have a clear record with the carer if there is anything (wedding ring etc) the person chooses to wear.

It’s as well to be aware that people with dementia do hide things, often in extraordinary places. So it’s necessary to check anything that could possibly serve as a container - old shoes, anything with pockets, cornflakes packets etc. , before throwing them out.
An aunt of mine (with dementia) complained to my sister that a valuable ring had been stolen. It turned up in a waste paper basket, carefully wrapped up in a pair of (dirty!) knickers. And my FiL with dementia (living with us at the time) often hid things and then went mad when he couldn’t find them - so did we, when we had to spend ages hunting for them! In one case it was the £50 deposit paid by the bloke who was buying his old car. It turned up in a pyjama pocket - stuffed under his mattress.

And a colleague of mine found £2000 randomly hidden in between layers of a pile of old newspapers - while clearing the flat of an old uncle who’d had dementia.

Yes, you should inform the care agency and the police! Its not just the theft, its the trust! You have noticed the jewellery, but what have you not noticed??
It makes me so mad, a carer stole cash from my dad. Its the bloody entitlement.