It’s ‘open season’ on the elderly when it comes to caregiver financial grooming and abuse in New Zealand.
In fact, I have discovered that when it comes to protecting the interests of the elderly, there really isn’t any protection at all for this most vulnerable population. I have been spending some time reviewing what protective factors exist in the aged care industry, when it comes to guarding against the possibility of vulnerable elderly being exploited by state-funded or private in-home caregivers. It turns out that the agencies that are charged with helping the 2200 complainants per annum of elder abuse in New Zealand, such as the Elder Abuse Response Service, Age Concern, or Grey Power, are simply toothless state-funded echo chambers into which complaints go to die; the police are not interested in helping complainants unless it can be proven beyond reasonable doubt that a crime has been committed; the Health & Disability Commission complaints process can take over twelve months to reach a decision as to whether a breach of the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights has occurred, for no meaningful sanction; and the courts only seem to be concerned with what is legal, not what is ethical in this space. One case I became familiar with was a woman who worked as an in-home caregiver, who had groomed and then financially exploited so many elderly clients, she ended up with a portfolio of ten properties to her name. The woman was blatant in what she was doing, the families of the elderly clients couldn’t stop her, and the police didn’t want to know about what was going on. Based on what I have discovered so far, there are dozens, possibly hundreds of cases of elder financial grooming and abuse by both family member and third-party in-home caregivers in particular, that have, and are occurring in New Zealand. This abuse is hiding in plain sight, and there is no meaningful state authority to stop this abuse occurring. This situation needs to change, because pretending to care about elderly financial grooming and abuse, without the power to do anything about elderly financial grooming and abuse, is both morally and ethically misleading to the public. See more information on this topic at https://bewarecare.org/
3 Comments
25/11/2020 04:25:30 pm
Caregivers are named as the most selfless people. They are willing to dedicate all of their time for the well-being of the people they care for. Their job is demanding that they have to care for their patients 24/7. Caregivers have to be there all the time to provide their assistance. They are willing to sacrifice their time for themselves just to support the one they are caring for.
Reply
1/12/2020 05:01:23 pm
You have to empower your caregiver to stop a situation that he or she can't tolerate, such as throwing food on the floor. But also make sure your caregiver understands that you don't expect your child to be a saint.
Reply
4/2/2021 05:59:23 pm
We should raise awareness among youth and they should realise that our parents sacrificed their health, money and time just to make us happy and give us a good life so now when they need us we should take care of them too.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Steve TaylorSteve is the Director of Relationship Matters Ltd. He holds two applied Bachelor's degrees (Counselling & Addiction) and a P.G. Dip. in Applied Social Practice. Steve is married with two children and lives in West Auckland. Archives
October 2020
Categories |