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New Law Will Protect Vulnerable from Abuse
By Ann Ferguson,
the Scotsman.com
November
3, 2008
Scotland
Older people and others who are at risk of harm or
mistreatment or who may right now be experiencing it probably don't yet
know the significance of new legislation which came into force a few days
ago.
They probably don't care that this legislation puts
Scotland
ahead of the rest of the
UK
and many other countries around the world. They most likely just want to
be treated better and to feel safe.
The Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 has the capacity to
change not just the lives of thousands of victims but how society views
the mistreatment of older people and others who are unable to protect
themselves from harm.
It requires investigation into allegations of mistreatment. Responding to
concerns is for the first time a "must do". It gives powers to
local authorities and others and allows them to actually do something to
stop older people being treated badly.
It has been mooted that adults who have mental capacity are able to make
their own decisions about whether to stay in a threatening or harmful
situation but that suggests a lack of understanding of the disempowering
affect of abuse, the gradual stripping away of any self-confidence or even
a belief that the abuse is the fault of the victim. It has been recognised
that many older people put up with mistreatment for many reasons. One of
these is pressure from the person harming them – threats of violence,
threats to put them in a home, using many forms of bullying. This new
legislation allows intervention in such cases, when all else has failed
and when the person experiencing harm is unable to do anything to
safeguard themselves.
It is still early days and time alone will test these new measures but a
clear message has gone out – it is no longer acceptable in
Scotland
to mistreat a person just because they are old, or sick or unable to
safeguard themselves. There are a lot of people now looking out for them
and as of this week they can and will act.
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