She has mild to moderate dementia and mobility issues, but she is pretty determined. She says I don't trust her. Guess she may be right! She has been at the ALF for only 1-1/2 months, getting more used to it, but she still thinks she can go home. She doesn't like it when I have told her the reality, that unless something drastic happens (improvement) she is not going home. That won't happen. There is no one there to take care of her and she needs 24/7 care. On the flip side, she says she just wants her ID so she can feel like a person. Legally I suppose she has a right to her ID. Do I just take a chance and hand it to her?
You're right to be concerned about scams. Unfortunately my elderly father was scammed out of $60,000. It happens.
And she's not going to find anyone to take her home. Who's she going to ask? The kitchen staff? The visitor of another resident? With an ID or no ID there's no one who will take her home so I wouldn't take that into consideration when you make this decision.
After my dad stopped driving his driver's license came up for renewal. Getting him to and from the license bureau would have been a huge undertaking so I convinced him that he didn't need a valid driver's license since he didn't drive and we never came across a situation in which he needed a valid driver's license.
Her dementia is now at the stage that she can't write or dial a phone but it's been a rocky road, always on edge dreading what she'd get up to next.