Alarming spike in elder abuse cases

IMAGINE your own daughter selling your home against your will to pay for her mortgage, placing you in a nursing home and leaving you without any finances for your medical needs.

It’s just one example of horrific elder abuse in Toowoomba, a problem that’s only becoming more prevalent during times of Covid isolation, senior advocates have warned.

The Elder Abuse Prevention Unit identified an alarming 21.3 per cent spike in elder abuse reports to the Elder Abuse Hotline compared to previous reporting periods statewide.

“For Toowoomba, the data reported indicates that there’s 18.1 per cent more reports of abuse than what would be expected when considering the population distribution of older people in the local area,” Public Trustee of Queensland Samay Zhouand said.

“Unfortunately there was 1374 cases reported for Queensland – that’s quite concerning.”

Mr Zhouand said a number of factors might have led to the increase, including isolation and issues of dependency.

“The family members may be dependent on the older member due to drug taking or unemployment or financial pressures during Covid, and as a result of that, the greater dependency leads to an increased risk of financial abuse,” he said.

“The numbers are concerning, but that's why it’s important to continue to talk about it and raise awareness about it.”

Mr Zhouand said women were at a higher risk of being the subject of elder abuse as well as those who lacked a social connection.

“With financial elder abuse, it’s an unfortunate and sad reality that the majority of cases of abuse involve direct family members,” he said.

“Ultimately our older Queenslanders have rights, and it’s important that the community ensures they’re protected and that family members are aware of their obligation of respecting the older Queenslanders.”

Mr Zhouand said an unfortunate majority of cases focused on family members taking financial advantage of the older member.

“One of the common occurrences are people misusing their attorney powers. Exercising those powers in a self interested way … there’s quite a lot of examples, and it’s important for people to try to get information about it and understand it,” he said.

The Public Trustee will hold a public discussion in the coming weeks with key service providers and frontline professionals to discuss abuse prevention and residential support in the region.

In an emergency, call triple-0.