Elder abuse reports ‘small drop in the ocean’ – AADA chair

E lder abuse is far more widespread than public reports suggest, with many cases hidden behind closed doors, according to Advocates Against Domestic Abuse (AADA) chairperson Barbara Daniel-Goddard. She urged the authorities to establish a comprehensive support system to protect older victims once abusive relatives are removed from their homes. Media reports represent only a fraction of the physical, financial and psychological abuse taking place, said Daniel-Goddard, noting that many cases emerged during her conversations with medical professionals, charities, people working with vulnerable communities and individuals who reached out to the AADA. “I would say the few times that things appear in the newspaper, or on the TV or whatever, is a small little drop in the ocean compared to what is happening all the time out there,” she told Barbados TODAY .

AADA, which normally receives more calls concerning intimate partner abuse, has in recent times been contacted by elderly people experiencing such abuse at the hands of their own relatives, Daniel-Goddard said. The organisation has been actively helping these individuals where possible, she added. According to the advocate, some elderly victims are reluctant to report their children or even grandchildren who were abusing them because they feared being left without the care they depended on: “There’s a lot of fear in the elderly community. There’s a level of fear in being old. There’s a level of fear of being left on your own. There’s a level of fear knowing that if I take sick, who’s going to look after me? ” She suggested many senior citizens lack knowledge of the legal protections available to them. Obtaining a protection order or removing an abusive son, daughter or other relative from an elderly person’s home was only…