What is elder abuse?
Family violence towards an older person is often described as ‘elder abuse’. It is a term many older people find more relatable to their experience than the term ‘family violence’. The term ‘older person’ refers to anyone who is aged 60 or older, or any Aboriginal person aged 45 or older.
Elder abuse is any harm or mistreatment of an older person that is committed by someone with whom the older person has a relationship of trust. In the context of family violence, this may be abuse from intimate partners, adult children, unpaid carers, or extended family members.
Elder abuse may take any of the forms defined under family violence. However, it does not extend to elder abuse occurring outside of the family context, such as in institutional or community care settings.
Older people may experience compounding risk factors and forms of discrimination, such as ageism. This can be exploited by people using family violence and increase the risk to an older person.
Elder abuse is a form of family violence and can include acts of psychological, financial, cultural, verbal, social, spiritual, sexual, and physical abuse and neglect. Evidence shows that perpetrators of elder abuse are more likely to use financial abuse than in other family violence contexts.
Behaviours that constitute elder abuse include:
physical abuse, such as pushing, hitting, or shoving
verbal and psychological abuse, such as berating, threatening the older person, or dominating the family home
financial abuse, such as fraud, controlling how the older person uses their money, or not contributing to the household costs (e.g. bills or rent), thereby draining the older person’s resources
stealing or causing damage to the older person’s belongings
exposing the older person to illicit drugs or other unwanted behaviours
over-medicating or under-medicating the older person
restricting the older person’s access to mobility aids
neglecting the older person’s needs, such as food, shelter, or hygiene
denying an older transgender person gender-affirming care and support, or access to hormone treatment
maliciously or unnecessarily applying for guardianship, medical or financial administration
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