The shame of elder abuse

Agencies report rates of neglect, mistreatment are on the rise Agencies report rates of neglect, mistreatment are on the rise
By Rita Savard, rsavard@lowellsun.com
Updated: 06/09/2009 08:22:50 AM EDT
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San Ou, who escaped the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, has allegedly been a victim of elder abuse in Lowell from her own stepson. She is holding an old photograph of her mother and father. SUN/David H. Brow
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LOWELL -- Sitting in her warm, dark living room, the woman thumbs through old photographs.
It's a long way from Lowell to Cambodia. When she stops at a black-and-white picture of her parents, San Ou seems to feel the distance.
A wisp of a thing at 5 feet, 100 pounds, it's hard to imagine Ou hovering on the knife's edge between life and death more than once -- and surviving. But the nightmares she has lived through have taught her something no one can take away from her.
"Life is a gift," she says.
After surviving genocide in her native Cambodia, Ou, 64, eventually settled in Lowell, where she again became a victim of abuse. This time, it was at the hands of a family member.
Last month, elder-abuse reports ...

(continue reading here) http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_12551611

www.elderrightsadvocates.com
Make a difference - email stopguardianshipabuse@gmail.com

Senate Committee Hold Briefing on Health Care and Long-Term Services and Supports

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), a member of the HELP committee, Dara Torres, a 12-time Olympic medalist, John Henry Douglas, a Vietnam Veteran with two Purple Hearts, and AAHSA’s own Barbara Manard, Ph.D., all advocated for the inclusion of long-term services and supports in any health care reform effort.
“Today’s briefing was a showcase of the real needs of people converging with a good public policy designed to meet those needs,” Larry Minnix, president of AAHSA, told me after the briefing. “We heard real stories from a variety of people. Our guest, Dara Torres, an Olympic champion, talked about being part of the ‘sandwich’ generation, a generation of people who care for their aging parents while supporting their own children.”

(continue reading here) http://futureofaging.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/senate-committee-hold-briefing-on-health-care-and-long-term-services-and-supports/

Be on the Lookout: Con Artists Stealing Guardianship of Senior Parents

Be on the Lookout: Con Artists Stealing Guardianship of Senior Parents
September 26, 2007 by
Matthew Paulson
Accociated Content

Senior adults have been targeted as easy victims in a number of different scams for the last two decades now, and it's only getting worse. Instead of just stealing money from them or ripping them off, con artists are now actually stealing guardianship of many senior adults. Some criminals have figured out that they can assume guardianship of elderly individuals just by telling a judge they are no longer mentally stable. When approaching a judge, these crooks don't have to do anything to prove that they are related to the individual they are trying to assume guardianship of. Courts are so busy and over-packed with cases that they just don't have the time or resources to make sure that the person making the claim is on the up and up. There's no easy way to find out when this occurs, so family members often have no idea that someone is stealing guardianship of their parents and simply have no recourse in the event that it happens. Usually the ruling happens quickly and the victims have no idea when it happens. If you have any aging parents, you have to look out for them and make sure they are not victimized. It's extremely easily to steal the money from your ageing parents and almost impossible to get it back after it's stolen. If you have senior parents, there are several legal things you can do to protect your senior parents. You can get a durable power of attorney for health care which will enable you to make decisions for your senior parents if they cannot speak of make competent decisions upon their own behalf. If you already have a durable power of attorney for health care, their guardianship can't be taken away because you already have it, and in the event that they are no longer competent, you are the one that will be able to make their health care decisions. You can also get a regular durable power of attorney, which requires the assistant of an attorney and is a bit more difficult to get. A durable power of attorney enables you to take care of your senior parent's finances, which would make it impossible for these types of criminals to steal your parents assets by claiming guardianship over them.

(continue reading article here)

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This article is almost two years old. Matters have gotten worse not better. Now they will just ignore the power of attorneys and still grant the guardianship. Warn your Loved ones today ! Designate who you want your guardian to be and who your want your conservator to be and don't trust the system! Give away your family heirlooms before it is too late because if you do not and you end up in guardianship the guardian can sell or auction off EVERYTHING including the diamond ring your great grandmother gave you to give to your daughter one day. Nothing is off limits.

THIS IS A SHAME AND OFTEN A CRIME !

stopguardianshipabuse@gmail.com ============================================

Help! Corrupt officials in N.J. stealing my dad's estate! (Ocean County Public Guardian

This is a plea for help from the family of a New Jersey resident whose estate is being pillaged by the Office of the Public Guardian in Ocean City, New Jersey.

Read More...
http://newjersey.craigslist.org/com/1180175282.html