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Finally Someone's Listening!

          According to The Elder Justice Coalition, the number of older Americans is growing faster, and so is the problem of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.  The Coalition states, "This often invisible treatment is among the gravest issues facing millions of American families." 

The Elder Justice Act provides federal resources to support state and community efforts dedicated to fighting elder abuse with scarce resources and fragmented systems.  From a social perspective, elder justice means assuring adequate public-private infrastructures and resources to prevent, detect, treat, understand, intervene in and, where appropriate, prosecute elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.  The Elder Justice Act further states, "Elder justice is the right of every older person to be free of abuse, neglect and exploitation." 

          How they plan to meet the needs of this vulnerable segment of society:

• Elevate elder justice issues to national attention.
• Improve the quality, quantity and accessibility of information.
• Increase knowledge and support promising projects.
• Develop forensic capacity.
• Victim assistance, "safe havens," and support for at-risk elders.
• Increasing prosecution.
• Training.
• Model State Laws and Practices.
• Increase Security, Collaboration, and Consumer Information in Long-Term Care.

The very notion that this piece of legislation is necessary at all is made all-too-clear as I recant my own personal nightmare with an elderly aunt who was abused, both financially and emotionally by her nephew.  My aunt invited her nephew into her home to provide caregiver services.  In a short 115-day period, he swindled her out of her life savings by taking her to the bank where he emptied her safe deposit box of $70,000 cash.  She died penniless with a broken heart.

To teach the reader how to protect the elderly, follow the specific steps below:

• 1. Set up a living trust when they are sound of mind
• 2. Check on them daily
• 3. Investigate any caregiver
• 4. Put every agreement in writing
• 5. Run a credit check on any potential caregiver
• 6. Look for a past of violence
• 7. Look for a pattern of abuse
• 8. Do not allow family members to escape the routine for verifying their eligibility to be caregiver

More about Janice M. Lauderdale-she has a degree in sociology and is a Minister in the counseling division at a mega church in Los Angeles. Her recently published book Wealth of the Wicked: An American Tragedy of Elderly Abuse is a breakthrough for the legal and physical protection of the elderly.  It puts a face on 1.2 million seniors who are abused annually.  She can be contacted for more must-know steps and legal protection of the elderly. Contact her at: http://www.writethewrong1.com/,

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