Child abuse is mandatory reporting and so is elder abuse when it occurs in residential care. What about when the individual doesn't live in residual care?
I am currently in my last year of social work degree and I'm researching why elder abuse is not covered for all elders in our community.
As you are probably aware elder abuse is on the increase as our aged population lives longer and they remain in their own homes or cared for my family members.
Do you feel as a neighbour if you witness a son abusing their elderly parent would you report it? If as a bank worker you noticed an elder's bank account diminishing rapidly since their family member became power attorney would you report it? But would they know who to report it too?
Elder abuse comes under domestic violence and research shows people do not like becoming involve when they witness or become aware of domestic violence occurring.
We also know for a lot of our aged population they cannot for themselves report being abused for various reasons, health reasons, fear of getting family into trouble, losing contact of family just to mention a few examples.
What are your opinions on making mandatory reporting for elder abuse in our community, would you support it? Would you support a helpline to be set up similar to that for child abuse to report elder abuse?
I realise there pros and cons for this subject and would like to hear those opinions please.
Thank you
looks like you came to a good place to get input on this subject. most of the replies are from a carer perspective and influenced by personal experiences.
Inflicting physical injury on another is a crime so of course that needs to be reported to the police.
Like you said there is no easy solution for both the individual and for the carer. I guess all we really want is too grow old happily and with dignity. Dementia is a cruel and unforgiving disease the sooner they find a cure or a decent treatment the better. But that can be said for a long of diseases that plague our civilisation.
As a student its by reading your feedback and others I can gain insight into both sides of the story and hopefully take that insight with me into practice. Should I be lucky enough to gain employment into the aged care field I will be revisiting this website to further expand that insight.