Cases of elder abuse surge 99 per cent during COVID pandemic
NEW YORK: Cases of elder abuse have surged during the pandemic, with a 99 per cent increase in calls to the national elder abuse phone line up to April this year.
Age Discrimination Commissioner Dr Kay Patterson said she was concerned to see physical distancing during COVID-19 being used by abusers as a reason to isolate their elderly victims.
“In normal times social isolation is already a risk, it is a risk factor for elder abuse,” she told the National Women’s Safety Summit.
“Now due to physical distancing measures or individual assessments about health risk related to pandemic, elder people are staying at home.
“Many advocacy services I’ve spoken to during the pandemic tell me they are concerned not by the number of calls are coming in but by the number of people potentially unable to call or walk into an office to get help.”
She said the pandemic provided “ripe conditions for elder abuse to flourish”.
“Between November 2020 until April 2021 this year the number of calls to the national elder abuse phone line increased 99 per cent from the previous period of May until October 2020,” she said.
Elder abuse includes physical and sexual abuse, financial abuse and neglect, and often takes place at the hands of family members.
Exploiting elderly family members for financial gain was a major concern for Dr Patterson, with large portion of abuse including “incidences” where the elderly victim was forced to change wills and give over bank details and power of attorney.
“I have been advocating for (the) Australian Attorney General to agree to a national register of enduring power of eternity or guardianship documents and laws around power of attorney across jurisdictions,” she said.
“I am committed to ensure that progress towards nationally consistent laws does not fall off the radar and that both the national register and harmonisation are progressed.”
Dr Patterson said secure housing for elderly women also needed to be a national priority.
“It is a national social emergency, and needs to be dealt with as such,” she said.
“There is a hidden cohort of women who lead conventional lives, yet find themselves at risk of homelessness as they approach or enter retirement.”
She said shared equity was one model that should be explored to reduce pressure on social housing.
“The aim would be for these women to own sufficient equity in the home, by the time they reach pension age, so they can afford to rent the portion they don’t own, and the other portion that they do own,” she said.
“Any older women who choose to participate in a scalable, shared company model, rather than risk running down assets, will not only gain housing security at the individual level, but also have the added broader benefit of reducing the significant pressure on social and community housing.”