Community Connect
Welcome to the seventh edition of Family and Community Services' e-newsletter.
ISSUE 7 • JULY 2009
E-news from Family and Community Services
Take the Time…Value Older People
Take the Time…Value Older People is the title of a new booklet about elder abuse, produced by the It's Not OK campaign and Age Concern.
The booklet gives basic information about what elder abuse is, along with examples of ways that older people are abused. It also gives contact information of where to go for help.
Elder abuse is a universal problem and often goes undetected because people don't know how to recognise the signs. An audit commissioned by the It's Not OK campaign also found that it is under-reported in the news.
The new booklet defines elder abuse as:
- Actions which harm and distress older people
- Lack of care, or neglect, by people close to an older person
- Not just physical violence or using force, like pushing or slapping
- Using older people's money without consent
- Controlling who they see, who they talk to, where they go
- Taking decisions out of their hands
- Treating them like children
- Name calling and put downs
- Keeping them at home, denying them the care they need
- Locking them in their room so they don't wander.
The booklet is the third in a family violence series produced by the campaign. The first was about men's violence in families, titled Take a Look… The second, called Protecting Children is Everyone's Business, is about how family violence affects children.
