If you are the only person who can open your parent's front door, then a delayed ride driver, a missed delivery, a fall at night, or a fire call all become your job at the same moment. This piece is about choosing who else can get in, comparing the options on the table, and writing the entry plan down while the door is still closed and nothing is wrong.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Count the routes that exist right now
Before you compare anything, list every way a person can get inside today. Most houses have one or more of these: a key you carry, a spare with a neighbor or relative, a lockbox on or near the door, a keypad code, a smart lock controlled from an app, or a paid person who comes out with a key. Write down who physically holds each one. You will often find that two of the routes depend on the same person, or that one route quietly stopped working when the locks were changed. That is the gap you are looking for.
Compare the key holder as carefully as you would compare a service
A neighbor, relative, or hired person who holds a key is a provider with a job, even if nobody has said so. Ask the same questions of each candidate and write the answers in one place. Can you be reached at night, and what is the number that rings first? How far away do you live, and how long would it take you to reach the house? Will you come when called, or only when you are free? Do you have a second person who can stand in if you are away or unwell? Do you know where the other key is kept, and have you ever used it? If the answer to the last question is no, the route has not been tested, and an untested route is still a gap.
Also ask what the key holder is permitted to do once inside. Some people are comfortable letting in a responder and waiting. Others are not willing to enter a house where a parent may be on the floor. Decide which one you want, and say it out loud to the person before you hand over the key.
Compare the lockbox on its own terms
A lockbox removes the need for a person to be awake and nearby, but it introduces its own questions. Look at how the box opens: a combination, a key, or an electronic code. Check whether the box is rated for outdoor use if it lives on the porch, and whether it is mounted into solid framing rather than thin trim. Find out who knows the code, and whether changing it is a one-step job for you or a call to a locksmith. Write down the date you last changed the code, not the date you plan to, because the person who used to know it may still have it.
Call your local fire department and ask whether they run a key-box program for homes where an occupant may need help, and what they require to participate. Ask the same question of your local police non-emergency line about how responders get in if they arrive and nobody is home. Rules and programs differ from one jurisdiction to another, so get the answer from the agency that covers your address rather than from a neighbor's memory or a website that may be out of date.
Compare a smart lock only after you test the outage
An app-controlled lock is convenient, but the question that matters is what happens when the internet or the battery fails. Check whether the lock still opens with a physical key or a keypad code during an outage, how the battery is replaced and who is responsible for it, and whether you can add or remove a person's access in one step while you are away from the house. Test the outage by turning off the wifi on your own phone and trying each access method yourself before you rely on it.
Write the entry plan on one page
An entry plan is a short page that answers four questions in order: who is called first, who is called second, where the key or code is kept, and what the person should tell a responder on arrival. Put it near the phone and give a copy to the person who holds the key. Include the parent's name, the address, which door is used, and whether the parent should be expected to answer. Update it whenever a number changes, a code changes, or a helper leaves.
Test the plan once, on an ordinary weekday
Ask your backup person to open the door without your help while you are not in the house. Time it. Note any step that required a call to you, any code that did not work, and any key that was hard to find. Fix those, then test again in a month. A plan that has been run once on a normal day is far more useful than one you remember reading.
You do not have to be the only key. Choosing a second route is a caregiving decision in the same way that choosing a respite provider or a ride service is, and it belongs on the list next to the other things you are allowed to hand off. For the public references behind our general guidance, see the Sources page. If you are still deciding how much of the week you can hand off at all, Permission and a Plan walks through the backup plan in order.