There Oughta Be A Law

QUIET. SO QUIET. It's all been "swept under the rug". My husband’s dead, so is my mother and I suppose when I pass, the only one left who really cares and remembers will be my daughter.

That’s the way we function as a society, isn’t it?  Time passes and injustice reappears because we take no real action to ensure the ongoing protection of those who can be abused, mistreated and neglected?

Any person who purposely files a false report of elder abuse or neglect is guilty of a class A misdemeanor at this time and when I was accused of Elder Abuse. 

WHAT ABOUT UNDUE INFLUENCE?  No changes there I’ve found.

Here's a resource I found helpful. http://www.eldersandcourts.org/Aging/Key-Legal-Issues/Undue-Influence.aspx

Undue influence is tied to financial exploitation but this article and others do not take into account the ability to use current practices by the Department of Health and Human Services, Senior Services, through their lack of training personnel and creating specific systems and procedures protecting the rights of the accused to ensure another "Senior" isn't falsely accused and a family torn apart as ours was.

As our parents grow older, so do we. Aging into the 80's and beyond often means the "children" are now Seniors themselves. Their resources are being used to accomodate a lower income level (for many) and their abilities may be lessened physically.

Yet it was the Undue Influence which caused our problems and set into motion the loss of hundreds of thousand of dollars of taxpayer money and the tearing apart of a family that for years had been self sustaining and contributing to these funds now being abused and misapplied.

Thankfully, there are changes coming in 2017 although why it takes years to increase penalties and correct gross errors in State Regulations and Laws after they've been passed, I do not understand.

Financial abuse will still need to be proven and with cash, that’s still going to be difficult if not impossible.

So, J, and others like her, will still have that “loophole” to crawl through and continue to prosper from their actions of Undue Influence.

WHAT WILL YOU DO TODAY OR TOMORROW TO PROTECT THE ELDERS IN OUR SOCIETY?  

Will you read but turn away or will you choose to look deeper into the problem and read for yourself your State's laws regarding Undue Influence of the Senior Population?

Will you carry into your personal life questions about how groups and organizations are run to ensure Seniors are protected through systems that do not take for granted someone's "accreditation" or "registration" as a professional?

Will you advocate beside me and others for higher levels of professional capabilities for those entrusted with the social responsibility of "protecting" Seniors?