Survey: Half of Delhi's Elderly Would 'Sue Their Children' If They Faced Abuse (INDIA)

By HEENA KAUSAR
24 January 2014

Fifty per cent of the Delhi's senior citizens are willing to take their children to courts if they face abuse at their hands, according to a recent DU study.
A majority of them, however, maintained that they will prefer to sort out the issues within the family.
Conducted by Professor NK Chadha and Assistant Professor Sarabjit Kaur Sran, the study revealed 86 per cent of the surveyed people found it difficult to approach the police and courts due to their "insensitive nature".
A mere 30 per cent were aware about the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act and its benefits.
While 90 per cent of the respondents said they have come across an elder abuse case, none of them have ever come across anyone who benefitted from the Act.
According to the study, the Act was seen an attack on the traditional Indian family system by 96.67 per cent of the citizens.
As per the Act, tribunals are empowered to fix a monthly maintenance allowance up to Rs 10,000.
Failures can lead to a fine up to Rs 5,000, or threemonth jail, or both.
"As many as 75 per cent of the surveyed people said the reasons for children not taking care of their parent are change in the social fabric, influence of western culture and increase in individualistic approach towards life," Chadha said.
One of the reasons why cases of abuse go unreported is because parents do not want to go against their children.
"Ninety eight per cent of the elderly who face abuse do not file any complaints against their perpetrators as they are not aware of their rights or are unable to communicate their plight due to their poor physical condition," he said.

 A total of 300 respondents had participated in the survey.
Three age groups – (60- 80 years), (30-45 years) and (18-22 years) – consisting of 100 respondents each participated in the exercise

SOURCE:       The Daily Mail, UK
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Elder Fraud: One Woman's Story, A Nationwide Epidemic (USA)

January 27, 2014
By:Lizz Schumer 

CHICAGO — Rosalind “Joy” Walker died without her daughter or grandchildren by her side. The Alzheimer’s patient had been a victim of elder fraud, in which the woman’s attorney, Janet Colton, next-door neighbor Joanne Turner and Betty Miller, a supermarket clerk, had conspired to obtain power of attorney and guardianship of the elderly woman, estranging her from her daughter, Glynnis Walker.

After learning about fraud against the older, more vulnerable segment of the population and the legal system, through her own personal experience, Walker wrote “Stealing Joy: A True Story of Elder Abuse and Fraud” to illuminate the risk and ruin of what she said has become a national epidemic.

“These seemingly everyday people were the ones who targeted my family. During their association with my mother, they abused her – psychologically, emotionally and financially, isolated her from her family, defrauded her, changed her will, stole her identity and mine,” Walker said. “In the end, they arranged for her death.”

The Older Americans Act of 2006 calls elder abuse “exploitation,” and defines it as “the fraudulent or otherwise illegal, unauthorized or improper act or process of an individual, including a caregiver or fiduciary, who uses the resources of an older individual [generally accepted as anyone over 60] for monetary or personal benefit, profit or gain or that results in depriving an older individual of rightful access to or use of, benefits, resources, belongings or assets.”

In 2011, the last recorded statistic, victims of elder fraud lost more than $2.9 billion in the United States alone. This was an increase of 12 percent over 2008. In spite of the frequency of the crime, with one in 20 older adult’s indicating that they have been victims of financial abuse in the recent past, only one in 44 cases of elder financial abuse is ever reported.

“It’s like years ago, when child abuse was a topic no one talked about,” Walker explained. “It’s not like it wasn’t happening; it just wasn’t being talked about. Elder abuse is like that, now. When people are older, they often don’t have a family or are far away from that family. They’re vulnerable, just like little kids, and we have to fight for all of them.”

Springville Concord Elder Network-SCENe:
For more information about the Springville Concord Elder Network contact: SCENe at 592-7599 or Ginny Krebs at 592-9885.

Abridged

SOURCE:     The Springville Journal
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Elderly In villages suffer More Abuse (INDIA)

Elderly in villages suffer more abuse
Swati Shinde Gole, TNN
Jan 20, 2014

PUNE: Abuse is one of the most common problems faced by the elderly (60+ years) in the state, says a study done by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and the United Nations Population Fund.
The survey, conducted on a sample of 1,435 elderly men and women above 60 years of age, concluded that the number is higher in rural areas when compared with cities and towns. The elderly were subjected to different kinds of abuse including physical, verbal, economic, disrespect and neglect.
A similar study was conducted by the two groups in six other states namely Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Odisha and West Bengal.
The study was conducted in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Odisha and West Bengal, which are the most populated states for elderly in the country. While the reports of Punjab and Kerala were released in December, the Maharashtra report was released on January 16 in Mumbai at TISS.
One of the findings of the report that worried most experts was that the prevalence of elderly abuse in Maharashtra is triple that of pooled estimate of the elderly surveyed in the six other states.
The report also suggests that the prevalence of abuse was relatively higher among older elderly (80+) and those with low education and poor economic status.
S Siva Raju, dean of School of Development Studies, TISS, who was part of the study, said, "Sensitization of families and persons from other age groups (in schools/colleges) in order to prevent discrimination and abuse of the elderly is necessary. There is also a need to encourage the identification of elderly found to be facing abuse and plan interventions to handle such situations."
The study aims to give an outline of socio-economic and health status of the elderly in the state. It also provides an idea about the extent of their interaction and their status within the family and the society. The collaborating institutes would be using this evidence-based knowledge to work with elderly in the seven states.
Frederika Meijer, country representative of UNFPA said, "The statistics on elder abuse are worrisome for the state. An immediate solution could be to make sure the youth are educated about respecting the elders and that a constant contact between the youth and the elderly is created through events."
While verbal abuse was the most common, the perpetrators were either family members or outsiders. Women were more likely to face abuse meted out by the family and face more disrespect and neglect from outsiders.
G Giridhar, another UNFPA representative and a member of the study team, said, "The situation of elderly in India is so bad that living longer is adding to more problems. If youngsters are at a risk of dying, the older are at a risk of living. In order to eradicate abuse of the elderly, there is a need to create positive image of elderly through active involvement of political leaders, NGOs, community events and bringing generations together."
Sujaya Krishnan, joint secretary of the Union Ministry of Health Family Welfare, who was present during the release of the report, said, "Special attention would be given to issues of women that have been highlighted in this report. The issues that have been raised of the elderly will also be looked into and appropriate steps would be taken to aid this vulnerable population."

SOURCE:    Times of India

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Doormen On Front Lines Fighting Elder Abuse (NY, USA)

22 January, 2014

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