Some time ago PILCH (Public Interest Law Clearing House) was approached by ‘Laura’, an 80 year old woman who was illiterate and spoke only limited English. Laura had purchased a property with her son as joint tenants.
For the next five years they lived together at the property and Laura was subject to ongoing physical and verbal abuse by her son. Laura’s son refused to drive her to regular medical appointments, she was often deprived of food for days and upon leaving the house it was standard practice for her son to unplug the telephone line so that she was unable to contact any other family member for assistance. After receiving further threats of serious physical abuse, Laura eventually escaped the property and contacted her daughter and a crisis intervention domestic violence centre.
When she came to PILCH Laura had been living in a rooming house for 2 years and had been trying unsuccessfully to negotiate with her son to sell the property.
One of the most troubling aspects of Laura’s story is that this form of ‘elder abuse’ is not uncommon among elderly, vulnerable people. While there are various definitions of ‘elder abuse’ it is generally taken to include any act occurring within a relationship where there is an implication of trust, which results in harm to an older person. Abuse can include physical, psychological, financial, sexual and social abuse, as well as intentional or unintentional neglect.
Despite the extent of elder abuse and its devastating consequences it is only recently that the need to develop measures to prevent elder abuse has crept onto the radar of law and policy makers.
PILCH recently successfully tendered for the establishment and operation of the service in collaboration with its joint venture partners; the Council of the Ageing (COTA), Eastern Community Legal Centre and Loddon Campaspe Legal Centre.
PILCH’s role in the service will be to develop a number of pro bono legal clinics at locations that are easily accessed by elderly people. The focus of PILCH’s work will be on the capacity of the law to deal with and remedy the mostly hidden issues of financial, physical or emotional abuse, social isolation, exclusion and discrimination experienced by older people. We also understand that while the legal issues that older people may have are not necessarily always unique to their demographic, there are a number of common barriers to older people exercising their legal rights such as fear of complaining and fear of disrupting family relations, compounded by a feeling of isolation and loneliness.
We expect that a number of the programs that the service will deliver will be up and running by April 2008.
If you would like more information about the service please contact Kristen Hilton at kristen.hilton@pilch.org.au
Abridged
SOURCE: pilchAustralia
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