It is 1979. You are 41-years-old and a blessed event is on the way! It is a little unexpected as you and your spouse (age 55) have two older children. But it is a thrill never the less and you both put up with the good-natured ribbing about starting over.It’s a very quick delivery, but the hospital nursing staff are subdued. The baby cries, he seems just fine, you figure everyone including you have had an exhausting day. The next morning, your doctor quietly meets with you and your husband to inform you that your newborn is disabled. He is so very sorry. Your paediatrician projects that your child may have ultimately have the physical and social skills of a seven-year-old child, but not much more. He is a strong healthy baby, but will need supervision his entire life.Stunned, you both begin the long process of coping. Your lives have just irrevocably changed, forever. How can you even begin to think about the future? Acceptance may come later, or may never come, but right now this baby needs to be fed and diapered. You stay at home on unpaid maternity leave as long as you can afford to, then you must return to your job. Reality sets in as you encounter the first of life’s serious obstacles. you initiate the childcare search, only to find after fruitless attempts that not every nursery is equipped to handle special needs children. Your baby is left with your dear mother, a kind elderly lady, herself physically challenged, but with a heart of pure gold.Fast forward through childhood.He is happy every day. He loves to play with your other children; he wants to be with them. They are patient and include him in their activities where they can, but they are almost grown now. Their interests, their needs have changed, and their urge to leave the homefront is growing daily. Soon they will be out on their own, studying and earning their way in the world. It is as it should be. Children are like kites, trying to fly, catching the wind, twirling back and forth until their tail sheets stabilise, soaring higher and higher to reach the stars. Suddenly, the string breaks and off they go on the great adventure called life. He will not be able to go, he wants to, desperately, and understands that they have left, but not the why. Always, the question why? It breaks your heart; but soon he is happy again to do one of his favourite things, go on a picnic and fish off the dock.He can no longer attend public school. The teachers have gently told you that from this point on, he is uneducable. He can read slightly, write his name, and knows what money can buy, but he lacks intuitive skills and cognitive reasoning, say his teachers. “Why do they always use such big words to describe the problem? Why don’t they just spell it out? Our third child will never be gainfully employed. He will not have a career; he will never be able to support himself, he will always need us, or someone like us to survive”. You are both exhausted from the years of financial struggle, relentless juggling and advocating for this dear innocent child; at times, it has affected your relationship with each other. You both have had bouts of depression. Nevertheless, some inner core of strength propels you to do the right thing, and you carry on.Fast forward through adolescence.He is now 17-years-old, a teenager. You are 58-years-old this year, and your spouse is 72 and still working part-time, hopefully for as long as he can. Neither of you were able to progress professionally the way you would have liked; it was simply too difficult to leave him for any extended period of time. Thank goodness, your other children are self-sufficient. Soon, you will have to find separate health insurance for him, too. You have tried to get him many jobs, but hurdles are many and transportation a constant problem. Everyone told you to procure life insurance to take care the boy after you are gone, but it just could not be managed.Fast forward what will be the inevitable. You are 73-years-old now, he is 32. He has a job that he loves, where the supervisors are patient and understanding, but he only brings home about $40 a week, hardly enough to feed him let alone pay for public transportation.His father passed a few years ago, cancer, he worked almost up to the end. It is a real struggle now, to make ends meet, but you miss him terribly for his positive attitude toward life and his gentle way with the boy. You and he used to talk about retirement planning after all those articles you saw in magazine, you know? But, you never really knew what that meant, to be able to plan way ahead. It was not written in the stars, you guess. The boy still has a small part-time job, but for how long? You haven’t been feeling well yourself, and you worry, you worry. “What is going to happen to this child when I am gone?”Many people have never had the luck of the draw; yet, they, somehow, in great dignity, ultimately carry on, playing the hand they are dealt in life.Who takes care of those who can never take care of themselves? Under the social contract theory, one of the most influential theories of government in the past two hundred years on which modern democracy and most forms of socialism are established, governments are created by the people in order to provide communal needs that cannot be appropriately fulfilled using purely individual means.Governments exist for the purpose of serving the needs (the safety nets) and desires of the people. The government’s relationship with the people is clearly stipulated in a social contract (a constitution and a set of laws). There are often many in a society that need help, some temporarily and others permanently. Are we (as a government and as a people) honouring our social contracts in the care of our elderly, children, and the disabled?Source: Associated content from Yahoo! What is Government and Why Do We Need It?Stephanie Clark, 2006Note: this is a composite case life story. It is not intended to resemble any actual person or family, living or departed.Martha Myron, JP CPA CFP®(USA) TEP is an international Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner in private wealth management. She specialises in independent fee-only cross border investment, tax, estate, and strategic retirement planning services for Bermuda residents with United States and multi-national connections, and US citizens living and working abroad. Member of the American Citizens Abroad Tax Advisory Council and Country Contact for American Citizens Abroad in Bermuda. www.americansabroad.org For more information contact mmyron@patterson-partners.com or 296 3528 at Patterson Partners Ltd.