In 2017, more than half of the 2,000 cases of abuse investigated by Multnomah County Adult Protective Services involved a family member. In more than three-quarters of those instances, the person investigated for maltreating an elder was not an intimate partner, but an adult child, grandchild, son or daughter-in-law or other relative.
The victims of such abuse have historically lacked regular access to domestic violence services in the County system, weakening the kind of assistance they received, Adult Protect Services manager Wendy Hillman said.
“It’s a tremendous amount (of people) and the existing definition of domestic violence services really is limited to people who are in intimate relationships,” Hillman said.
To close that gap, Multnomah County’s FY 2019 budget added a domestic violence response advocate to work specifically on matters of elder abuse.
“This position allows us to combine two very core services of Multnomah County, which include adult protective services and domestic violence, and collaborate to serve this population in a much more efficient and collaborative manner,” said Isaura Ascensio, supervisor of the Domestic Violence Crisis Response Unit. “We are hoping that this collaborative helps us close the gap and expand our definition of what it means to serve abuse victims and survivors of all types of abuse.”
Hillman and Ascensio spoke Thursday as the Board of County Commissioners moved to proclaim June 15 Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Multnomah County.
Elder abuse is any form of mistreatment that results in harm, fear, or loss in an older person. Abuse can include physical harm or injury, neglect, financial exploitation, verbal or emotional abuse, and unwanted sexual contact.
An estimated 5 million older adults are abused, neglected, or exploited, according to the Administration for Community Living, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that is dedicated to maximizing the independence, well-being, and health of older adults and people with disabilities. The division has found that older Americans lose an estimated $2.6 billion or more annually due to elder financial abuse and exploitation.
Occurrences of elder abuse are expected to increase between 2015 and 2030 as the world population of older adults rises, according to the United Nations.
Beginning July 1, Multnomah County’s new advocate will provide resources to help older victims with safety planning and other services to reduce the risk of injury and death from abuse. The advocate also will work with partner agencies to increase knowledge and competency in the domestic violence system on responses to non-intimate partners.
The advocate will be a part of the County’s Domestic Violence Crisis Response Unit, which works closely with law enforcement officials to help people who are fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence. The unit provides immediate on-scene crisis response, safety planning and support in domestic violence cases with a high risk of ongoing, severe violence or lethality.
“It’s often very tricky when it’s a family member to make long-term changes because those relationships are so essential to our core being,” Hillman said. “The domestic violence model, we’re hoping, will take the scope of investigation and take the skills of long-term safety planning to a whole new level for people who are currently in really difficult and unsafe situations.”