Article 16

While reading this article I can say that I was in complete shock. I can not believe that children can take advantage of their elderly parents like some did in this article. It is so sad that these older adults who have worked their whole lives to build up their savings can have them stolen from them in an instant from their own children. The article was very short but yet there were several instances where elderly adult's were abused in some shape or form by their own child. I really did not know that this kind of abuse was so common and all around us. I also find it so upsetting that attorneys know that abuse is happening but sometimes there is not much they can do to help them out. I see how it is hard to get seniors to make formal complaints against their children that are abusing them. Because when I try to put my self in their shoes and think about when I do have children what it would be like to be abused by them and then have to make a complaint against them its terrible to even have to think about it. I find it very hard to believe that legal aid is rarely awarded to seniors that need help. I don’t understand why that is, if anything you would think the government would be more willing to help them because most of the time they need more help than the younger generations. It is reassuring to know that there are shelters for older people who are being abused to go to but at the same time these shelters can only provide so much to them. I think it would almost be a better idea for the government to be the guardian to incompetent senior's rather than having a family member take the responsibility of being their guardian. But when I think about it there are a lot of family members out there that would never take advantage of their own parents or even think of abusing them. The one story at the very end of the article really caught my attention. I just couldn’t help but feeling terrible for the woman, I can't imagine how terrible it would be to be taken advantage of by your own child. The one quote in the article “senior abuse is about 20 years behind child abuse, both in terms of public awareness and government and police resources” really struck me because it seems very true. I feel so naïve to this terrible situation I really didn’t realize the extent and seriousness of it all. This article really made me want to do more to help these seniors that are being abused. It was a relief to hear that there is some improvement happening with the awareness of senior abuse but I wish more could be done. I can only hope that more seniors get the courage to follow these complaints on their children and get help.