Not Right to Abandon Ailing and Elderly Parents (Borneo)

by Irene C.
August 12, 2013
KUCHING

Elderly parents are not to be treated like extra baggage or unwanted pets to be dumped  in front of old folks’ homes such as Rumah Seri Kenangan like what some individuals have done.
Calling this a worrying trend, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim lamented that this constituted a social problem which should not happen as the nation approaches a developed country status.
In fact, she said, children of these old folks, those sickly or bedridden should take it upon themselves as their filial duty to shower them with love and care.
“The opportunity to take care of your parents are limited, therefore, grab the remaining time to take care of them like how they took care of you before,” said Rohani when met at her Hari Raya open house at her house yesterday.
She was among the dignitaries receiving Head of State Tun Datuk Patinggi Abang Muhammad Salahuddin and his wife Toh Puan Datin Patinggi Norkiah in their Hari Raya visits yesterday.
She added that it is very sad to see senile old folks who do not even know their own name and home address being dumped.
When asked about the rules on admitting old folks to the home, she said it would depend on the condition of the persons, like having no living relatives or family to support them.
She, however, advised that sending them there should only be a last resort as the waiting list is long besides it being very disheartening to see children leaving the responsibility of caring for their ailing and old parents to the institutions.
On laws to punish those abandoning their ailing parents, Rohani said it was not feasible to have such laws yet as it would result in congestion in prisons.
She suggested that children send their old parents who are still active to the Old Folks’ Activity Centre at Jalan Ong Tiang Swee to occupy their time.
“At the centre, we have various activities to fill up their time while their children are at work. After working hours, they will be picked up by their respective children and brought home,” she said, adding that the centre also teaches the old folks to make handicrafts which are marketed under the ‘Purple DNA’ brand and proceeds would be shared between them.
First opened in Miri, the centre is now available in Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu, Sri Aman and Dalat, Mukah.

SOURCE:      The Borneo Post
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Chennai Woman Fights for Her Rights at 85 (INDIA)

Married at 15, literate at 48, Chennai woman fights for her rights at 85
Karthika Gopalakrishnan,
TNN
Apr 8, 2012

CHENNAI: Unschooled and married at 15, A T Pankajam taught herself to read at 48 after her husband died. Laboriously, she traced words from a 'Spoken English' book to decipher the sale agreement for a house he bought on Munusamy Achari Street in Sembium for 2.5 lakh in 1989.

Since a third person managed to lay claim to the house in 1990, Pankajam - now 85 - has been trudging to the Madras high court every other week. Her only hope is that the house will be returned to her, which will save her from a life on the streets - she is struggling to pay her dues at 'Home Happy Home', a shelter for the elderly in Kolathur.

The three girls and a boy from her husband's first marriage as well as her two sons abandoned her after her husband died. "I stayed with my youngest son but after he got married, his wife didn't like me even serving him coffee. She said either she would stay in the house or me; so I offered to leave."
Pankajam moved to a hostel and her son paid the monthly rent of 6,500 for six years. "After that, money stopped coming as they had many loans to repay. My son brought me here as the rent is 3,500, but I haven't paid for the last few months. They have let me stay for now, but how long can it go on? If they ask me to leave, where will I sleep?" she asked.

She has been living in old-age homes for the last 12 years.
I am old but I am also a woman. My house fetches a rent of 20,000 a month. Why do I have to fight so hard for something that is rightfully mine?" she said, choking on the words.

"I have attended free tailoring classes at the church in Perambur. I can stitch blouses, underskirts and saree falls as well as curtains. I used to request churchgoers to give me clothes to stitch as it would help pay for my stay at the home. I was paid 50-100. Now, I have grown older and my stitches don't come out in a straight line. I can use only white thread which is the only thing I can see. But youngsters today want colour of the stitches to match their clothes. Nobody comes to me anymore," she said.

Her case before principal district and sessions judge P Kalaiyarasan as well as her representation to registrar-general G Chockalingam is set to come up next week. "I take a share auto and a bus and the walk to the HC for each hearing. It is terribly hot and I am constantly asked to shuttle from one section to another for my case. My case has come up before several judges, but all of them change and move up to the HC. Judges have appreciated my petitions, saying they are well-written for someone who has never gone to school. But nothing changes. I am still here," she said, pointing to a bag below her bed, a small pull-out calendar, a plastic bucket and mug and a few discarded plastic bottles - her only possessions.

SOURCE:      Times of India

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Greedy Children Abandon Parents (INDIA)

By Nafeesa M P

KOCHI: Susamma (name changed), 50, an inmate of Shanthi Bhavan for the last two years, finds it hard to hold back tears when asked about her family.
Homeless and lonely after the death of her husband, she had no choice but to seek shelter at Shanti Bhavan as her three children were too busy to care for their mother.
Sadly, this is not just the story of Susamma, but the tale of hundreds of elderly people who live in various old-age homes.
“All my children wanted my wealth. Once they had it all, they threw me out of the house,” Susamma said. “Though my daughters sometimes come and give me money, my only son hasn’t come yet,” she said.


An other inmate Annamma, 81, who has eight siblings, shares the same plight.
“I was self-employed for years till health issues prevented me from earning a living. No one cared for me after that,” she said.
Another inmate at Home of Providence in the city said she left home with her husband eight years ago after her adopted son tried to sell their house at Kannamali.
“He had already sold all my ornaments and then was forcing us to agree to his wishes,” she said.
Though the state of the elderly people is pathetic, most of them choose not to take legal action against their children, though they have the right to do so.
Despite the Senior Citizens Bill- 2007 having too many provisions for the elderly, it could do nothing to curb the marginalisation of elderly people.
Revenue Divisional Officer S Shahnavaz said: “The condition of old women, especially mothers, is more pathetic as they seldom complain about the abuses they face from their family.” Shanavaz said there are many provisions for the elderly to opt for legal assistance if they face any abuse.
All the properties registered after 2007 in the name of children can be retained by the elders if the children fail to care for them, he said.
“A legal notice will be served on the relatives if they are not able to satisfy the promised maintenance for the elderly. In some extreme cases, the children can even face jail sentence,” Shahnavaz said.
However, he added that the situation in the city was much better now as there was good response from elders against the ill-treatment. “The issue needs more awareness so that our services can be extended to more people,” he said.
District Probation Officer Shimna said: "There is no awareness among the people about the rights of the elderly. Many elders tolerate such cruelty just because they think they are helpless,” she said.

 SOURCE:     IBN.in
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Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Chants Joint Family Mantra (INDIA)

Feb 20, 2012

CHENNAI: Hailing the bygone joint family system followed in our society, which took care of all elderly persons at home, Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa on Sunday advis¬ed newly-wed couples not to ignore their parents who are increasingly being forced to head to old-age homes due to the money-minded approach of their children.
“Six decades ago, there was joint family system and, as such, there was no need for old-age homes then… Now, the government has to run old-age homes to protect the elderly who are abandoned by their children… Money has outmatched love and affection for the dear and near,” the AIADMK supremo said, presiding over the weddings of 64 couples, organised by the party’s Jayalalithaa Peravai, to mark her 64th birthday which falls on February 24.
“Children should ponder over the sacrifices made by parents to bring them up and provide quality education...they should treat them with love and affection... Some children go abroad for higher studies and...then settle there itself forcing their parents to move to old-age homes...they not only forget their parents but also their motherland, ” Jayalalithaa said. However, she said her government would do the needful for the welfare of the aged.

 SOURCE:    IBN Live, India
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Proposed Law Would Force Visits to Mom and Dad (CHINA)

  Sharon Lafraniere wrote in the New York Times that one Chinese ministry has proposed that the government mandate closer families. Under a proposal submitted by the Civil Affairs Ministry to China’s State Council, adult children would be required by law to regularly visit their elderly parents. If they do not, parents can sue them. ‘Before, the courts did not accept this kind of lawsuit,’ Wu Ming, a deputy inspector for the ministry, told The Legal Evening News this month. ‘But from now on, they will have to open up a case.’[Source: Sharon Lafraniere, New York Times, January 29, 2011]
  The proposed amendment to a 1996 law on rights of the aged could be considered by the National People’s Congress, China’s government-appointed legislature, But Jing Jun, a sociology professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, told the New York Times it was unlikely to pass. “The national delegates are rational enough,” he said. Some specialists support the proposal. “I know the person who drafted this provision, and the first thing I told him was ‘Really nice move,” said Ninie Wang, international director of the Gerontological Society of China, a Beijing-based nonprofit research group. “The whole society needs to start seeing that we need to give the elderly more care and attention.”
  “The notion that adult children should care for their aged parents is deeply ingrained in Chinese society, Lafraniere wrote. “Offspring who shirk their responsibilities are met with scorn — and sometimes legal judgments. In Shandong Province, for instance, a court ordered three daughters to each pay their 80-year-old mother between 350 to 500 renminbi, roughly $53 to $75 a month, after the mother claimed that they ignored her and treated her like a burden, The Qingdao Evening News reported. “
Proposed Law Would Punish Grown Children Who Demand Money from Their Parents
  “The Civil Affairs Ministry is not the only government agency rushing to the defense of older people. Last week, the eastern province of Jiangsu passed an ordinance forbidding adult children from forcing their parents to give them money or goods, according to The Yangzi Evening News.”[Source: Sharon Lafraniere, New York Times, January 29, 2011]
  China terms adult children who lean too heavily on their parents ‘kenlao zu’ — literally, people who nibble on their elders. The Chinese Research Center on Aging, a government-financed research center under the Civil Affairs Ministry, estimates that 3 in 10 adult Chinese remain partly or totally financially dependent on their parents.
  Like the proposed national amendment, the provincial ordinance encourages adult children to see their parents regularly. What constitutes regular — as opposed to occasional or infrequent — is unclear. So is how such a requirement could be enforced. Mr. Wu, the Civil Affairs Ministry official, said in his interview with The Legal Evening News that lawsuits accusing children of emotional neglect of their parents ‘would be different from normal lawsuits. Because the amendment tries to govern social behavior, he said, ‘some details cannot be set forth very clearly.’ He suggested some lawsuits might end in supervision or mediation.
  The amendment also addresses the need for more facilities, community care and in-home services for the older people, as well as the need for more social benefits, like free routine medical checkups. A spokesman for the ministry said he could not comment on the proposed amendment because it had not yet become law.

SOURCE:     Facts and Details.com
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Prosecuting Children Who Abandon Parents Won't Do (MALAYSIA)

By Tarani Palani

 December 16, 2011

It is the government's duty to place a systematic safety net for the elderly, says National Council of Senior Citizens' Organisations Malaysia

PETALING JAYA

Punishing children who abandoned their parents will not resolve the larger problem of the elderly being neglected, said the National Council of Senior Citizens’ Organisations Malaysia (NACSCOM).

Its president, Lum Kin Tuck, said this in response to DAP chairman Karpal Singh’s recent call to make it illegal for children to abandon their aged parents.

Karpal, the Bukit Gelugor MP, has proposed a Maintenance of Parent’s Act which he will push for in the next parliamentary sitting to arrest the rising number of abandonment of senior citizens.

His proposal came in the wake of a latest survey which showed that 675,000 citizens aged 60 and above have been abandoned and do not receive financial support from their children.

This means that one in three senior citizens have been deserted by their children.

India, Taiwan and Singapore have a similar law in place where punishment includes hefty fines or imprisonment on errant children.

Karpal suggested that Malaysia emulates such countries and punish errant children as it will lessen the burden of the state and taxpayers.

Lum, however, said such a law may not necessarily work and that it was the government’s duty to place a systematic safety net for the elderly.

Lum, who has been advocating the rights of senior citizens for 20 years, said that the law implemented in Singapore was not successful as parents refused to drag their children to court.

He said that the responsibility to care for the elderly fell on society and the government as the senior citizens have contributed to the progress of the country.

“They should be entitled to enjoy the fruits of their labour and not be neglected,” said the 94-year-old Lum, adding that the problem can be tackled systematically via a taxation policy.

He suggested a system akin to a social welfare system where society’s contribution acts as a safety net for the elderly who are less fortunate.

“The government should impose heavier taxes on the high-income group – the millionaires. Karpal also should not be afraid that he has to pay higher income tax because of this.

“When you die, you will not take a single cent with you. Think kindly of the elderly and poor, they should live out their old age with dignity and not allowed to suffer; it is sinful,” he said.

Systematic changes needed

Lum said that the problem of abandonment was prevalent due to the rising cost of living and poor policies such as the lack of a minimum wage, low EPF payout, and low pensions.

“You know we don’t have a minimum wage policy. If you get RM800 a month, how can you take care of your parents?

“The EPF is also a small amount. At the height of my career about 40 years ago, I earned RM1,400. My pension is half that amount.

“Where is it enough to take care of all the expenses a senior citizen may incur? If I depend on my pension, then I cannot survive.

“Senior citizens may want to live alone so as not to be a burden on their children. Then you have medical expenses. A paltry sum is not sufficient to cover these expenses,” he said.

He said that the government had given him a grant of RM2 million to open five senior citizen day-care and two old folks homes which NACSCOM operates.

But despite this readily available grants, Lum said that systematic changes were still vital to solve the issue of abandonment of the elderly.

“Instilling values in the young is important but the systematic changes could guarantee a safety-net to the rising number of ageing population,” said Lum.

“People today may live up to 100 years old with all the advances in medical sciences. You retire at 60, then how are you going to survive for the next 40 years without sufficient funds to live?”

Lawmakers were reserved when asked if they would support such a Bill. Although the issue was worrying, they said they would wait for details of the Bill before responding.

Abridged
SOURCE:    FreeMalaysia Today
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Who qualifies as an ugly Malaysian? (MALAYSIA)

Who qualifies as an ugly Malaysian?

By Chok Suat Ling

Based on a  report in this newspaper on Tuesday,  it appears that some don't even have the time for their own families.
Some 675,000, or one out of three people, aged 60 and above are abandoned by their children.
 They do not receive financial support from those they brought into the world and raised, and are deprived of proper care.
 Some are left in old folk's homes. Even worse are those "disposed" of in hospitals.

Indeed, there are the children who treat public hospitals as dumping grounds for their aged and infirm  parents because food, shelter and medication there are provided by the government. It also saves them the hassle of applying for places for their parents in government-run welfare homes.
 These children leave false addresses and phone numbers, and disappear after leaving their elderly parents under the care of the hospitals. There are such cases all over the country. Should laws be enacted to punish these miscreants?
 In India, children who fail to provide a monthly allowance as ordered by the court can be jailed up to three months, or fined Rs5,000 (RM305).
 In Taiwan, those who abandon their parents may face up to a year in prison or a fine of up to T$200,000 (RM20,740). The Maintenance of Parents Act 1995 in Singapore states that parents are entitled to make maintenance claims from their children.

Would counselling be a better option? Should research be carried out "to identify the root causes of why children are abandoning their parents"? Or should these unfilial offspring just be tied up and beaten with rubber hoses until they see the error of their ways?

Whatever the most effective method, what's certain is that these are the ugliest of Malaysians.

Abridged
SOURCE:        New Straits Times

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Taiwan Mulls Jail for Abandoning Elder Parents

Taiwan mulls jail for abandoning elderly parents

Agence France-Presse

November 11th, 2011

TAIPEI—Adults in Taiwan who fail to look after their elderly parents could face jail under a new law being considered following rising cases of abandonment, a legislator said Friday.

Under the bill, people who abandon their elderly parents will face up to one year in prison or a maximum fine of Tw$200,000 ($6,600), said the office of lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao who proposed it.

They will also be forced to pay for their parents’ living expenses with mandatory deductions from their wages or by making a lump sum payment or putting money in a trust, according to the bill.

An estimated 2,000 people aged 65 and over are abandoned by their children each year, and the number of cases has grown by 30 percent annually in recent years, according to Lai’s office.

“This is an alarming trend that we cannot afford to ignore because it will lead to more and more social problems as Taiwan’s society ages rapidly,” his office said.

It said changing family values were the likely cause as some adults no longer have the same sense of responsibility toward their parents.

Traditional Chinese culture attaches great importance to filial piety and the revered ancient philosopher Confucius stressed that it was the foundation of all virtues.

The bill passed an initial review in parliament late Thursday and if enacted, Taiwan will join the few Asian countries such as Singapore that legally enforce taking care of elderly parents.

People aged 65 and over accounted for 10.6 percent of Taiwan’s 23 million population, the latest census showed, above the 7.0 percent level at which a society is defined as “ageing” by the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, the island’s birth rate has plummeted to one of the world’s lowest in recent years, triggering concerns of serious social and economic problems from a severe manpower shortage.

SOURCE:      newsinfo.inquirer.net

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Taiwanese Who Abandon Parents could Face Jail (TAIWAN)

Nov 12, 2011

TAIPEI - 

A Taiwanese legislator has introduced a Bill - similar to Singapore's Maintenance of Parents Act - which could jail or fine adults who abandon their elderly parents.

The proposed Taiwanese law, which passed an initial review in the Legislative Yuan Parliament late on Thursday, will compel offenders to pay for their parents' living expenses in either a lump-sum payment, a trust fund or a monthly allowance deducted straight from the children's wages, the office of lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao said yesterday.

Those who do not comply can be jailed for up to a year or face a maximum fine of NT$200,000 (S$8,550).

Taiwan faces an ageing population problem, with 10.6 per cent of the population aged 65 and above. Mr Lai's office estimated that 2,000 Taiwanese aged 65 or above are abandoned by their own children each year, a figure that has grown by 30 per cent per annum in recent years.

"This is an alarming trend that we cannot afford to ignore because it will lead to more and more social problems as Taiwan's society ages rapidly," Mr Lai's office said.

Singapore's Maintenance of Parents Act gives parents above the age of 60 the right to sue their children for maintenance. Defaulters face a fine of up to S$5,000 or up to six months in prison. Agencies

SOURCE:    TodayOnline
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Abandoned by Kin and Caught in Twilight Zone (INDIA)

Nov 04, 2011

Express News Service , The New Indian Express

KOCHI:

There used to be a time when old age homes and retirement centres were alien concepts.

Elderly members were an integral part of the family and abandoning your parents was something unheard of.

But today senior citizens are considered as an appendage that doesn’t fit into the nuclear units and incidence of children abandoning their parents is soaring. The mushrooming of old age homes also indicates a clear change in Malayali’s social and cultural ethos.

“From an agrarian culture, Keralites have switched to an urban lifestyle which has completely erased the concept of joint families. Nuclear families hardly pass on our traditional value system to the coming generations. From their minuscule family environment they imbibe survival tactics, not humanitarian traits,” says poet Chemmanam Chacko. Fighting orphanhood and isolation, especially when you are in the twilight period of your life is a terrifying affair for many.

“I think in the West people are more sympathetic towards the elderly. They find time to take them out or visit them. But here they are completely denied care and compassion,” he says.

Writer C Radhakrishnan says it is an inevitable consequence of urbanisation and the drastic change in lifestyle it brought forth. “In Western countries it is part of their civic culture, but they pay regular visits and make sure that their parents are well cared for.

There are small townships for the elderly, which provide proper living arrangements for senior citizens without curtailing their quality of life and level of independence. All the concepts we borrow from the West go through a process of alteration and we customise them according to our requirements.

The problem lies in our basic approach. Leaving your parents at a place where you feel they are safe is different from completely neglecting them. The present condition of the elderly population is highly deplorable,” he says.

The condition of aged parents and grandparents are pathetic in Kerala and it points to an alarming change in our socio-cultural scenario, says writer Sethu. “Unlike other states, the ratio of expatriates is high in Kerala and slowly we are forced to accept old age homes as a social reality. It is a disturbing sight to find parents left unattended in piteous conditions in spite of all our social accomplishments, including the literary level,” he says.

SOURCE:       IBN LIVE

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Cases of Elderly Abandoned by Poor Families on the Rise (INDIA)

By R Sivaraman, TNN

Oct 4, 2011

MADURAI:

 In the twilight of their lives, they have been abandoned in hospital by relatives who are either unable to care for them or don't want to shoulder responsibility.

Octogenarian S Vellaimmal, a resident of Manchanaickanpatti on the outskirts of Madurai, can barely remember any thing. Her daughter is alive but has left her at the government owned Rajaji Hospital, say the staff. The case of M.Vasantha (75) of Madurai is similar. So is that of Damodharan (60) of Valliyur, who is bed-ridden and has lost his vision and speech. They were all in hospital for a month and after their relatives could not be traced, were shifted to an old age home.

M Gopalakrishnan, a Red Cross activist, said the trend of aged people being abandoned in hospitals by families, who admit them into outpatient wards and depart on the sly, is clearly on the rise.

"Since 2008, we have rescued 127 unknown patients. Either we reunite them with their families if they remember them or we are forced to admit them to an old age home. Last week we rescued seven old people and sent four of them to an old age home," he added.

A Harikrishnan, another activist, said relatives who accompany old people to the hospital often leave after submitting fake addresses. "In many cases, the children of these old people are steeped in poverty," he said.

Dr Prahadeesawaran, resident medical officer of Rajaji Hospital said: "The abandonment of elderly people is a headache for us. It is painful to note that their sons themselves bring them by auto and leave them in outpatient wards on the sly. We recently caught a person who tried to leave his parent. When we nabbed him, he claimed he was a passerby and had found the old person and brought him here. "

"Most of them are found in a starving condition. If they are sick we put them in the casualty ward and we try to give maximum medical support," and later shift them to either reunite them with their children or send them to an old age home," Dr Pragadeesawaran said.

Fr. R.V. Thomas Rathapillil, Founder, St. Joseph's Hospice, Dindigul which runs the old age home laments that while the country is on the one hand becoming richer on the other hand the poor are becoming poorer and perhaps driving them to the desperate act of abandoning their parents in this manner. He feels the new menace is a result of the booming economy which has a flip side to it. "The poor can not accomodate their sick parents in their home and only the rich or relatively better off can afford to support their elderly," he observed.

SOURCE:     The Times of India

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Penalty for Dumping Elderly Parents Pushed (PHILIPPINES)

Penalty for dumping elderly parents pushed

 May 23, 2011

Written by : Bernadette E. Tamayo

ANY individual who would abandon his or her parent “in any place” would be imprisoned up to 10 years or pay a fine of P300,000 if a measure filed by Sen.Panfilo Lacson becomes law.

He filed Senate Bill 2819 allowing a parent, who is in need of support, may file a petition for support before the court and pray for the issuance of a support order against those children who failed or refused to provide the necessary support.

Lacson lamented that despite Filipinos’ close family ties, some still abandon their elderly, sickand incapacitated parents to fend for themselves. SB 2819 mandates children to “show filial responsibility” to their parents at their time of need. 

A respondent who continues to fail in giving support for three consecutive months without justifiable cause, faces imprisonment of one to six months or a fine of P100,000.

“We Filipinos are well-known for our close family ties. Because of this close family ties, we have the usual inclination to care for our elderly.  However, even with this close family ties, there are elderly, sick and incapacitated parents who are abandoned by their children,” he said. 

SB 2819 states that legal representation of the parent will be provided by the Public Attorney’s Office and no court fees will be assessed. It also seeks to establish an Old Age Home for the elderly, sick or otherwise incapacitated parents in every province and highly urbanized cities.

Lacson noted the rules requiring children to support their parents “have existed for thousands of years.” SB 2819 also calls for a support order to compel children to provide the necessary support to their parent. 

“Such an order shall include the name of the children required to give support, the amount necessary for the support of their parent and the share of each of the children. The death of one of the children of the parent in need of support will not affect the liability of others,” he said. 

“But if the court determines after due notice and hearing that the parent in need of support abandoned, abused or neglected the respondent, it may dismiss the petition or may reduce the quantum of support ordered by such amount as may be just,” Lacson said.




SOURCE:     The Journal.com.ph
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Maintenance and Welfare of Parents Act (INDIA)

TNN, Jan 17, 2011

Any person who does not care for his or her parents, grandparents and leaves them in any place with the intention of wholly abandoning them, is punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three months or fine that may extend to Rs 5,000, or both. The UT administration has notified the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 in August 2009. However, due to a lack of awareness, only a couple of cases have come up before SDMs so far. According to the notification, every offence under this Act will be tried summarily by a magistrate. No civil court will have the jurisdiction in respect of any matter pertaining to this matter. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against any action taken in good faith under this Act. 

Those deserting their parents may be directed to pay a maximum maintenance allowance of Rs 10,000 per month which can be awarded by the Tribunal. The complaint can be filed with the SDM for the maintenance and the Deputy Commission will be an appellant authority. Once the tribunal is satisfied that a senior citizen — parent or grandparent — is unable to take care of himself and there is neglect or refusal of maintenance on the part of the children or relative, it may direct one or all children or relatives to pay to the applicant a monthly maintenance allowance, the upper limit of which shall be Rs 10,000. 

The SDM would have to pass orders within 90 days of the receipt of application. The Act has also been kept free from advocacy, as the aggrieved parents, grandparents or senior citizens can apply before the district social welfare officer, who has been recommended to act as applicant's attorney before the tribunal.

SOURCE:     Times of India
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Adult Children Abandoning Parents at Hotels (USA)

Adult Children Abandoning Parents at Hotels

August 19, 2010

LAKE MARY, Fla. – 

Investigators in Seminole County say they've discovered a bizarre problem: adult children are dropping off their elderly parents at hotels and motels, and abandoning them.

"A lot of the local hotels seem to be getting seniors that are just dropped off by their kids," said Officer Zach Hudson of the Lake Mary Police Department.

One man was left at the La Quinta Inn in Lake Mary for several weeks.

"Two different times he fell out of his bed during the midnight shift. We didn't know about it. We had people call up, saying there's a gentleman in this room, he's screaming for help," said Chris Loker of La Quinta Inn.

The problem comes down to money.

Copyright 2010 by wftv.com. 

Abridged
SOURCE:    WFTV.COM
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“Granny Dumping” – A Burden on ERs (CANADA)

Elderly Abandoned; Hospitals left to find care when family falters.


Some come with notes pinned to their clothes or tucked inside pockets. Often, they are unable to explain who they are or where they came from.

Across Canada, hospitals have encountered a rare but troubling phenomenon: elderly patients abandoned by relatives or others in crowded emergency wards, with or without an acute medical problem, geriatric experts say.

"There probably isn't an emergency department in the province or in the country or anywhere really that hasn't seen this happen," said Dr. David Ryan of the Regional Geriatric Program of Toronto.

"Sometimes it comes from that whole issue of elder abuse.... Sometimes, less often, it's people who are misusing the system. There are stories that we hear from time to time about somebody who is dropped off with information on how to reach the family, but the family is gone and they've gone on vacation."

The practice, nicknamed "granny dumping," is an extreme example of the wider issue of senior citizens arriving at emergency simply because they or harried family members do not know where else to turn, say nurses and doctors. The problem is unlikely to go away as a growing number of Canadians enter old age, they suggest.


Ontario, like some other provinces, has implemented programs to ensure those older people end up where they will get the best care. Some health-care professionals complain, however, that there is a shortage of services to help people overwhelmed with the burden of caring for ailing older people, often incapacitated by Alzheimer's disease or some other form of dementia.


"We all deplore the act of what they're doing," said Teri Hay, executive director of the Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse. "[But] in some cases, family members are desperate. You could be caring for your parent, who might be cognitively impaired, at the same time you are working and raising your own family. To say the least you are tired and exhausted."

Like other experts, Ms. Hay said dumping is an uncommon, yet undeniable phenomenon.


She recounted two cases in Toronto hospitals in the past year, where seniors were found in emergency waiting rooms bearing notes that included their names, but no telephone number or other contact information. They were unable themselves to explain their history, Ms. Hay said.



At Windsor's Hotel Dieu-Grace hospital, Norma Mamaril, a geriatric-emergency-management (GEM) nurse, said she sees about two such cases a year. The most recent was a few months ago, when an elderly man arrived alone by ambulance with virtually no identification and speaking only Serbian.


Ms. Mamaril did some extensive "detective" work and determined that his wife had left him and moved to Quebec. When she tracks down the children of such patients, they often seem unwilling to get involved.

Coming from a Filipino background where families typically look after their elderly members at home, the nurse said she finds such attitudes mystifying. "I feel very sorry about the patients. I always tell them 'If only I could take you home.' "


Doris Flynn, a GEM nurse at Kingston General Hospital, said dumping, though "really rare," often stems from some dramatic change in the person's situation. She recalls a patient delivered to emergency by ambulance after the son who had been looking after her became incapacitated by drug addiction.

A Calgary woman said the patient in the emergency examining room next to her mother's recently had been abandoned in the department, with a note pinned to her asking for help.

If such incidents are rare, it is much more common for family members to actually accompany elderly people to emergency when they can no longer care for them.

"It could be an elderly woman who's looked after her husband for years as his dementia worsens," said Chris Crooks, a social worker in the emergency ward of Halifax's QEII Hospital. "She's care-giving 24 hours a day, trying to keep it going and then it reaches the point where it becomes humanly impossible to do."


Senior citizens can spend days in the department as staff find appropriate services for them, she said.

The Ontario government has implemented a number of measures to deal with such scenarios. They include a program that sends emergency-department staff to nursing homes to offer care, as opposed to the residents being sent to the hospital, said Dr. Ryan. The province's community-care access centres, which oversee nursing homes and home-care services, have case managers stationed in some emergency rooms to coordinate placement of seniors, he said.



 SOURCE:   VoicesForLife Blog
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'Granny Dumping' A Burden For Ers (CANADA)

Elderly Abandoned; Hospitals left to find care when family falters

By Tom Blackwell, National Post

May 14, 2010

Some come with notes pinned to their clothes or tucked inside pockets. Often, they are unable to explain who they are or where they came from.

Across Canada, hospitals have encountered a rare but troubling phenomenon: elderly patients abandoned by relatives or others in crowded emergency wards, with or without an acute medical problem, geriatric experts say.

"There probably isn't an emergency department in the province or in the country or anywhere really that hasn't seen this happen," said Dr. David Ryan of the Regional Geriatric Program of Toronto.

"Sometimes it comes from that whole issue of elder abuse.... Sometimes, less often, it's people who are misusing the system. There are stories that we hear from time to time about somebody who is dropped off with information on how to reach the family, but the family is gone and they've gone on vacation."

The practice, nicknamed "granny dumping," is an extreme example of the wider issue of senior citizens arriving at emergency simply because they or harried family members do not know where else to turn, say nurses and doctors. The problem is unlikely to go away as a growing number of Canadians enter old age, they suggest.

Ontario, like some other provinces, has implemented programs to ensure those older people end up where they will get the best care. Some health-care professionals complain, however, that there is a shortage of services to help people overwhelmed with the burden of caring for ailing older people, often incapacitated by Alzheimer's disease or some other form of dementia.

"We all deplore the act of what they're doing," said Teri Hay, executive director of the Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse. "[But] in some cases, family members are desperate. You could be caring for your parent, who might be cognitively impaired, at the same time you are working and raising your own family. To say the least you are tired and exhausted."

Like other experts, Ms. Hay said dumping is an uncommon, yet undeniable phenomenon.

She recounted two cases in Toronto hospitals in the past year, where seniors were found in emergency waiting rooms bearing notes that included their names, but no telephone number or other contact information. They were unable themselves to explain their history, Ms. Hay said.

Abridged
SOURCE:     The National Post
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Abandoning Elderly Relatives A Cruel Act (JAMAICA)

ABANDONING ELDERLY RELATIVES A CRUEL ACT

March 09, 2010

We are moved by the Sunday Observer's revelation that some Jamaicans are abandoning their elderly relatives in the St Ann's Bay Hospital and, even worse, refusing to accept them back home after their hospitalisation.

The story of Rosemarie, the 86-year-old woman who has been living in the hospital since 2008, is enough to melt the coldest of hearts.

No member of her family, she said, had bothered to visit her. In fact, according to Rosemarie, her relatives had turned over her care and well-being to Jesus.

That kind of neglect is not easy to accept, and that was obvious in her sotto voce comment during the interview: "Sometimes I feel like jumping through the window."

While we do not get the impression that the treatment meted out to Rosemarie is widespread, we cannot accept the fact that it is being done. Indeed, the Sunday Observer reported that Rosemarie is one of nine such senior citizens at the St Ann's Bay Hospital and that there were 27 abandoned senior citizens there in 2008.

Equally disturbing is the experience of social workers who report that when they try to return some of these seniors to their relatives, the attempt is greeted with threats of violence.

"We have had cases where persons have picked up stones to stone us or draw knives at us when we go to return their relatives, and so we have to call the police to come in and assist us," said Ms Kerrian Adair-Campbell, one of two social workers at the hospital.

Abridged
SOURCE:     The Jamaica Observer

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Children Who Abandon Elderly Parents in Infirmaries Could Face Legal Action (Jamaica)

KINGSTON (JIS):

November 24, 2009

Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government, Hon. Robert Montague, has said that the Department is contemplating legal action, under the Maintenance Act, against Jamaicans, who abandon their elderly parents in state care.

"You have some children out there, lawyers, doctors, teachers, who have abandoned their elderly relatives and leave them to the state and we need to deal with that," Mr. Montague stated yesterday (November 23) as he addressed a contract signing ceremony held at the Department's Hagley Park Road office.

He noted that while the Maintenance Act is usually enforced against delinquent fathers, it is rarely imposed against children of the elderly.

According to the Local Government State Minister, some elderly persons are taken to the infirmaries by family members, who then take control of their possessions. He noted that this ought not to happen.

Abridged
SOURCE:    Jamaica Information Service
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Indian Government Urges States to Implement Old People's Maintenance Act (INDIA)

The Indian government is forcing all its states to bring into immediate effect an act that will benefit older people. All the states, apart from six, have implemented the act.

According to D. Napoleon, India's minister of state for social justice & empowerment, all the states and union territories excepting Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur and Sikkim have brought the Maintenance And Welfare of Parents And Senior Citizens Act, 2007 into force.

The remaining states have been urged to immediately notify and implement the Act.

The minister also informed that the Scheme for Integrated Programme for Older Persons that was revised in April 2008 will prioritize sensitizing programs for children in schools and colleges.

The government is also in the process of providing financial assistance to non governmental organizations to aid in the construction of old age homes and running and maintaining the same.

Mathew Cherian, CEO, HelpAge India says, "The government says that one old age home is to be maintained in every district. However, the funding is not enough to fulfill that criteria."

Cherian also feels old age homes are not the solution. "The government should strengthen its pubic health system and sensitize children to look after their parents. Otherwise in a vast country like India, it is impossible to accommodate all the old people in old age homes," Cherian says.

People over 65 years constitute 5.3% of the Indian population. This number is expected to grow to 170 million in the next 25 years. According to HelpAge India, 47.3% of elders are abused by their own children.

The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act was passed in 2007 to protect the rights of the elderly. The Act makes it a punishable offense to abandon parents who are unable to maintain themselves.

However, as Cherian says, the law only talks about punishment. There should be instead a system of incentives. "Looking after the old can be expensive. The government should provide some kind of incentive in the form of maybe tax breaks to children who look after their parents to encourage them."

He adds, "The law is against the very ethos of India. No parents will ever lodge a complaint against their children unless pushed to the extreme. So, it is not like atrocities do not hapen - but very few gets reported."

SOURCE:    All Headline News

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Abandoned Elderly Find Hope Through Blessed Teresa's Nuns (Kathmandu, Nepal)

November 06 2009

In a country where it is increasingly commonplace to abandon the elderly, the Missionaries of Charity (MC) sisters provide a loving refuge in a government home they work in.

"Most youngsters consider their old parents a burden," Surendra Prasad Joshi, a retired university professor, says.

Traditional care of the elderly within the extended family is breaking down in Nepal, according to Joshi, who now volunteers as secretary to the MC Sisters in Nepal.

He said that economic pressures add to the problem as most youngsters head overseas to find work. Furthermore, with the trend toward nuclear families these days, fewer young people are looking after their parents. "Many parents are literally thrown out of homes; they are either dropped off at old age homes or in temples," he added.

At one government-run facility for the elderly at least, located on the premises of the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, they get loving care from the MC nuns who work there.

"I am happy here," says 80-year-old Bir Bahadur Gurung, whose sons left him to fend for himself as he grew older and weaker. "I get to eat and I have friends with whom I can talk with, and the sisters always take good care of us."

The MC sisters first started their Nepal mission in 1980 following a visit to Kathmandu by Blessed Teresa of Kolkata.

"During her visit, 'Mother' cleaned the toilets at the home and later convinced the late Queen Aishwarya Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah to give the sisters a part of the home" to work in, said Sister Rose Therese, head of the MC sisters in Nepal.

They now have 32 elderly people in their care. The nuns bathe, feed and wash the clothes of residents who cannot perform daily chores.

According to HelpAge International, a global network working for the elderly, six percent of the 28.5 million people in Nepal are aged over 60.
There are currently nine MC sisters stationed in three centers in Nepal.

Abridged
SOURCE:    Indian Catholic News
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