My brother is younger and caretaker lives with my mom? This is a terrible position to be in but housing for mentally ill in our state is 10 yr. waiting list and very limited . Seniors taking care of adult mentally ill adults...the services are none existent in our area ...Now mom is sick too .
I have two relatives who are bipolar. One of them manages very successfully and I would not hesitate to have her as a POA. The other one is generous and caring, but would just not be suitable to handle someone else's affairs -- needs help with her own. So I know that "bipolar" covers a lot of territory.