Elderly individuals can often be in a vulnerable spot. Because of the health issues that can impact older adults, they are in a position of dependence upon others. This is why the need for senior care exists, right?
But there’s a lot more to it than just physical needs. Seniors aren’t just impacted by physical disability or a lack of mobility. Cognitive issues like Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia can also play a negative role in the life of an elderly individual, making day to day tasks harder. Again, this is one of the reasons why senior care exists; it’s there to help support this population and give them the assistance needed so that their senior years aren’t just about survival, but about thriving.
Financial abuse goes beyond these things within the senior population and digs deep into the foundation of that support structure. This is why it’s such a distressing issue. Elderly individuals are particularly susceptible to manipulation and exploitation for a variety of reasons. Cognitive decline because of dementia is one of those reasons, but it’s not the only one.
This form of abuse manifests in various ways, including unauthorized use of funds, forged signatures, coercive control, and scams. Perpetrators may be family members, caregivers, or strangers seeking to exploit financial assets. We’ve all heard about the Nigerian Prince scam, but this is just one of the obvious examples of abuse. Financial abuse jeopardizes the financial stability and independence of seniors, leading to devastating consequences such as depleted savings, increasing debt, and limited access to necessary resources. Raising awareness, implementing protective measures, and providing support systems are crucial to safeguarding the financial well-being and dignity of the senior population.
If you suspect that elder abuse is occurring pertaining to someone that you care about, there are some things that you can do on your end to help.
First, the people that surround your family should be trusted. True, financial abuse can happen within a family, but if there are multiple eyes on your loved one and their day to day doings, the odds of this going undetected for very long decrease dramatically. Have two or three people help your loved one with their finances instead of just one.
Additionally, senior care should all be well vetted. This is why we perform extensive background checks on every single person that we hire. You want to ensure that the people that are helping your family are actually there to help. We do these checks and perform ongoing training to make sure that the people we hire are all in the care business for the right reasons.
You’re not alone on this care journey. Senior care is hard, but you have a lot of resources on your side that can help make it a little bit easier. We can be one of those resources for you.Our in-home care professionals have years of experience and we can help put that to use to ensure that your loved one is as safe as possible while they age. We can schedule a free consultation session with you and your family to go over your options and help get you connected to what will help you the most. Please give us a call today to get started.
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