Financial Exploitation of the Elderly

According to the Santa Clara, California Public Guardian's Office, this has become "the crime of the 21st century." Frightening statistics indicate that elderly victims of financial abuse experience decreased mental and physical health, which often leads to premature institutionalization, and that these victims suffer a mortality rate that is three times higher than those who are not abused. Furthermore, the fear of being institutionalized is one of the factors that keeps elderly victims from reporting the abuse or causes them to recant their stories after they do report.

Financial abuse is almost always accompanied by emotional and/or physical abuse when it is perpetrated by family members, which occurs in almost 90% of known cases.

Promising practices: Daily Money Management Programs can provide protection against financial exploitation. The service, which assists people with both the routine tasks of banking or paying bills and the more complex tasks of negotiating with creditors, is offered by both public and private agencies. The document, Daily Money Management Programs: A Protection Against Elder Abuse by Lisa Nerenberg, M.S.W., National Center on Elder Abuse, June 2003, is available at the NCEA website, www.elderabusecenter.org., or from the Center for Crime Victim Services.

F.A.S.T. (Financial Abuse Specialist Team) is an innovative collaboration among Adult Protective Services, the Public Guardian's Office, and the District Attorney' Office of Santa Clara, California. This multidisciplinary rapid response team responds within hours of receiving reports of financial abuse of vulnerable adults. According to one caseworker, "A son or daughter may have power of attorney, and suddenly realize that they have complete access to their parent's estate. It's a crime of opportunity."

The new video, "FAST," from the Santa Clara Department of Aging and Adult Services, dramatizes such a situation and the team's response. Available on loan from the Center's library; contact Barbara at 241-4334 or bwhitchurch@ccvs.state.vt.us.

This project was supported by Grant No. 98-VF-GX-K003 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.