Understanding Elderly Abuse
With an increasing number of seniors and wealth among seniors, concern for their safety and dignity rises yearly. Elder abuse exists in many forms including physical, emotional and financial abuse, and is prevalent, yet often hidden. As an example of the majority of financial exploitation cases, the victims lose not only their money but also their independence and trust in others. Seniors with high financial means are also subject to manipulation and betrayal from those closest to them and from elaborate criminal organizations.
Elder abuse can occur in many ways, including financial fraud, coercion, exploitation of pre-existing estate planning, and outright theft. It is a serious problem, as the National Council on Aging estimates that older Americans lose billions of dollars to fraudulent activities every year. As advocates like Claudette Rickett Schwartz have emphasized, elder abuse is under-reported because many victims are embarrassed, confused, and fearful of retaliation, which helps contribute to the confusion surrounding the extent of this issue and shows seniors are vulnerable to becoming victims of elder abuse regardless of wealth, education or their life-long accumulation of wealth.
Because abusive situations commonly involve an elder’s trusted family member, the family members often feel isolated. The idea that wealth protects elders is a myth; wealth attracts predators. Recognizing warning signs of elder abuse, which include sudden changes in financial practices or changes in legal documents, will help families and professionals detect elder abuse early on and achieve restoration of their independence and justice.
The Legal Frameworks & Protections for Seniors
Over the past decade, Puget Sound Elder Services’ report noted a greatly increased effort by state governments throughout the country to provide legal safeguards for our nation’s senior citizens (age 65+) to protect them from financial abuse. Many states have enacted new laws to protect against financial elder abuse, create protective orders for seniors who are victims of abuse, and give Adult Protective Services (APS) greater authority to investigate allegations of elder abuse. Consequently, while so many new statutes exist, actual protections are not guaranteed and there remains a large gap between what the law says will happen when a senior citizen is an alleged victim of elder abuse, and how laws actually protect these victims due to the lack of enforcement of these statutes and/or delays in reporting an alleged victim to a law enforcement agency for further investigation.
The most important part of the statutory protection for a senior citizen is the requirement that financial professionals and caregivers must report suspected elder abuse, as these individuals are at a greater risk of being able to detect potential elder abuse because they are most likely to come across suspicious activity. Providing training to, and creating clear procedures for, financial professionals and caregivers on how to identify elder abuse and how to report it can help close the gap that may occur between the time that a potential elder abuse victim has been identified and the time that an elder abuse intervention occurs. There are also new ways in which courts are trying to expedite the prosecution of criminal cases for elder abuse and provide a sensitivity to the unique needs of victims of elder abuse. There are also numerous state and local resources available to provide information about the legal rights available to elder citizens, and so many resources still require continued outreach to ensure that seniors are aware of the available assistance resources and of their legal rights and protections.
Technological Challenges and Solutions
As technology continues to evolve and mature in our society, it has created new barriers to successfully preventing elder abuse. More and more seniors are utilizing the internet for various purposes such as banking, investing, and staying connected with friends and family. While seniors are able to use these platforms for many reasons, they are also now being targeted by more sophisticated attacks than ever before. Examples of such attacks include the use of deep fake technology, phishing schemes, and fraudulent websites. Many of these schemes have the ability to deceive even some of the most tech-savvy individuals. According to the FBI, there has been a significant increase in the amount of cybercrime perpetrated against seniors, and particularly with respect to identity theft and fraudulent investment opportunities.
While technology does present some challenges to seniors with respect to being exploited through scams and other forms of financial exploitation, technology offers potential solutions to addressing these same challenges. Among those solutions are the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning by many financial institutions as a means of identifying and flagging suspicious transaction patterns and unusual account activity. Other examples of how technology can be utilized to protect vulnerable individuals include biometric authentication, improved two-factor authentication, and the use of call-blocking technologies. Perhaps most importantly, increasing the ability of seniors to stay informed about potential scams through digital literacy campaigns will help empower seniors to be able to recognize and resist scams on their own. The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) offers seniors and their families guidelines for identifying and resisting elder abuse as the internet evolves and represents a growing source of digital risk.
In order for these initiatives to be effective, it is critical for families and community organizations to actively promote and educate their members about digital literacy. Discussions regarding the use of technology and its associated risks should be encouraged and normalized to decrease the feelings of intimidation and fear that many seniors may associate with the use of technology.
Community Involvement and Support
The responsibility of protecting the rights of older citizens cannot rest with the individual or the legal system, and therefore must be a collective community effort. Community networks not only provide essential support for families of Seniors through continual oversight, supervision and support, but also prevent seniors from the isolation that often prevents Intervention from taking place. Campaigns such as the awareness campaigns that are provided by the Alabama Securities Commission serve not only to educate, but also to establish the belief of belonging and collective vigilance to prevent elder abuse by creating meaningful relationships through family, community and spiritual connections.
Other initiatives to promote empowerment and protection against elder abuse are those that connect Seniors with Volunteers or are based on mentoring intergenerational relationships. To promote a community effort to prevent the exploitation of seniors, community-based organizations such as local faith-based organizations, financial advisors and medical providers must work collaboratively to provide support through a multitude of venues. Social services must either provide direct services or assist in facilitating access to the Justice System as a means of preventing and addressing elder abuse. Persistent involvement at the community level is the most important factor in effective prevention and identification of Elder Abuse.
Ultimately, Communities must come together to shatter the silence that provides the atmosphere for elder abuse to occur. By bringing dignity and justice to all elders, regardless of their social or economic condition, we will promote the dignity and respect that every elder deserves in our community.
Summary
Elder abuse has become a complex and real risk for victims and for all of us. To address this issue effectively, we must take steps to provide continued awareness, reinforce the legal system, utilize adaptive technologies, and create a support system by connecting communities so the elderly (and their families) have a safe place to live. Ongoing advocacy will be necessary to ensure that wealth and success are not viewed as characteristics of being at risk but rather as characteristics of valuable, safe and dignified living for all seniors.
