Informal support from adult children is crucial for many older individuals as their need for assistance increases. This makes older people without children, or with children living far away, particularly vulnerable—especially when public care and support institutions are being scaled back or during times of crisis. This paper draws on data from the most recent waves of SHARE: Wave 8, the SHARE Corona Survey 1, and Wave 9, to examine both informal and professional help received by individuals aged 70 and above in 26 European countries, before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. We estimated the likelihood of receiving informal and professional help from outside the household, comparing parents living with adult children, parents with children living nearby, parents with children living far away, and older individuals without children. We also compared countries with different welfare models. The results show that many individuals over the age of 70 still manage independently. However, nearly one-third of respondents in Wave 9 reported receiving informal help from outside the household, with adult children being the primary providers—even in countries with universal welfare models. As expected, the probability of receiving help was higher among parents with adult children living nearby. However, the difference between older individuals without children and those with children living far away was relatively small. This suggests that older people in Europe without children, as well as those whose children live at a distance, constitute vulnerable groups—particularly if trends toward re-familization continue. Furthermore, we found no evidence that the dramatic increase in informal help during the pandemic had a lasting impact on how such support is provided in the post-pandemic period.