One aim of the current study was to ascertain the process of early identification and responses by certified social workers to elderly people with dementia who live alone at local comprehensive support centers. A second aim of the current study was to attempt to compare that process to community-based social work theory. Nine certified social workers were interviewed, and interview data were analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach. Early identification of elderly people with dementia who live alone began with ‘Ascertaining Initial Information and Laying the Groundwork for Early Identification of Elderly Clients with Dementia Who Live Alone’. This led to ‘Devising Outreach Approaches and Creating a Relationship with the Client’ as well as ‘Ascertaining the Client’s Status through Direct Intervention and Requesting Assistance’. With the latter as a starting point, subsequent responses involved ‘Asking Other Parties to Conduct Appropriate Interventions’ and ‘Increasing One’s Involvement with the Client’, ‘Sensing the Need for an Urgent Response and Conducting an Intervention When Circumstances Worsen’, and ‘Promptly Devising Support that is Focused on the Client and that is Tied to Social Welfare Resources’. These concepts revealed the relationship between the particular nature of community-based social work theory and its implementation.