Each year in June, we recognize Elder Abuse Awareness Month, with June 15 designated as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day—two events dedicated to raising knowledge about elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation, and promoting action to protect older adults. Elder abuse in all its forms happens most often at the hands of a caregiver, family member, or other trusted individual, and all too often, while it is a crime, it goes unreported and unnoticed.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about one in six people over the age of sixty experienced some form of abuse in the year the survey was conducted, 2017. The National Council on Aging (NCOA) reports that, in the United States, reported cases of elder abuse reached one in five senior Americans. Additionally, they estimate that only one in twenty-four instances of elder abuse are reported to authorities.
As the baby boom generation works its way up through the decades, the American population will continue to grow older, demographically, and the number of individuals who are susceptible to elder abuse will also continue to rise. If current trends persist, reported cases of elder abuse will likely increase, and so will the number of unreported cases.
In light of these disheartening figures, we can use this month to commit to being part of the solution and reverse those trends. Let’s examine what elder abuse is, the signs to watch for, and what each of us can do to help combat this issue.
What is Elder Abuse?
There are seven types of abuse identified by the NCOA: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional/psychological abuse, confinement, passive neglect, willful deprivation, and financial exploitation. Oftentimes, a victim may be subject to more than one type of abuse.
Common examples of elder abuse include the theft of money (i.e., financial exploitation) by a family member or friend who has been given access to financial accounts to help them manage their finances but misuses or takes the assets for their own benefit without the person’s knowledge or consent. Or the theft of medications by the helper who graciously picks them up at the pharmacy for the senior victim. It’s not hard to find horrific accounts of abuse in the form of a more physical nature including beating, tying down, or neglect.
Individuals over 60 years old are more susceptible to abuse than those under 60. The reasons for this include an increased dependence on others, cognitive decline, and social isolation. It makes sense when you consider how vulnerable a person can be when they rely on another person to handle day-to-day tasks, such as managing financial matters, picking up medications, and other activities they used to be able to do for themselves. The senior dependent may no longer have the capacity to see that the person they trust to pay their bills is also taking money for themselves or that the person who is picking up their medication is keeping some of it.
Signs of Elder Abuse
What are things we should all be looking for that may indicate that a person we know or encounter may be a victim of elder abuse? The NCOA tells us that the common indicators of physical abuse are dehydration or weight loss, missing eyeglasses or hearing aids, unexplained bruises, cuts, or sores, poor hygiene, and unattended medical needs. Signs of emotional or psychological abuse include increased fear or anxiety, isolation, unusual changes in sleep patterns, and withdrawal from normal activities. And finally, the signs of financial elder abuse include fraudulent signatures on documents, unpaid bills, unusual changes in spending habits, or unexpected changes to estate planning documents. Some of these indicators will be more obvious than others, but none of them should be ignored.
Reporting Elder Abuse
We’ve already covered the signs that indicate potential abuse, so what should we do when we see the signs? In the United States, elder abuse is considered a crime and all forms are punishable by law. You may feel the need to get involved personally, either by asking the suspected victim about your concerns, or you may feel compelled to confront the suspected abuser yourself. There are other times when this feels too risky—either a risk to your relationship with the senior victim or a danger to your safety, threatened by the suspected abuser.
The good news is there are ways to intervene that don’t require you to personally confront the person you suspect is abusing the victim. Every state has a department responsible for protecting its senior population. They go by several different names. Adult Protective Services and the Department of Aging are two examples. Each of these offices has a hotline that individuals can call to report suspected cases of elder abuse, and, in most cases, the reporting party can remain anonymous.
All employees at Covenant Trust complete Elder Abuse Awareness Training on a regular basis, and each time, the trainer emphasizes the importance of reporting every case where you reasonably believe someone is being abused. We are repeatedly told that it’s better to report a case where a social worker can ultimately reach an informed conclusion that there is no abuse than to have a case of abuse go unreported.
A Call to Action
We’ve covered what constitutes elder abuse, what signs of elder abuse to be alert for, and how to take action when those signs present themselves. Abuse is not an easy topic to think about, read about, or discuss, but it’s important to do all of those things.
Like just about every other problem, this isn’t going to go away by people ignoring or avoiding it. Each of us needs to make an individual commitment to care for those around us, at least to the point of intervening in cases where we suspect a person may be the victim of abuse. I can tell you from personal experience that reporting is easy. Often, it’s just a matter of a five- or ten-minute phone call.
Once the social worker has the necessary information from you, they will often attempt to make face-to-face contact with the victim to assess their need for help. That office may or may not be able to provide you with any further developments, or you may be close enough to the situation to see them for yourself. Either way, you can know that you took the responsibility to care for another by reporting what you believed to be abuse. Together, we can reduce the number of unreported cases of elder abuse, and, much more importantly, we can ultimately reduce the number of cases of abuse. Period.