The call from Clayton Springer of the National Assistance Board (NAB) for legislation to protect the elderly from financial abuse, including theft of their assets and raiding of their bank accounts even by relatives, brings back into sharp focus an ongoing problem in our society. 

In almost every district in our country it is common to have cases where older family members with financial assets can find themselves being abused by friends and relatives who on the face of it claim that they are "looking after" the old people. Not many of these cases reach our courts, mainly because the old people might be too scared to let it be known how they are being treated. Then, too, there is the fear of loneliness. 

In a number of cases those abused have no one else to turn to as family. They tolerate abuse ironically reasoning that in any case when they make their demise, the very abusers will be the ones to inherit what they leave behind. But at the same time, those who stand to benefit behave the way they do because they are impatient because the old ones are still around and cannot wait to get their hands on their financial assets. 

What has also been noticeable is that often when the State intervenes, in particular, in cases where older family members are provided with improved housing, younger relatives soon move in and take over the running of the house. 
The older relatives whose initiative or earlier living conditions would have prompted the need for improvement can end up no better off. 

What might be more pertinent to Springer's call, however, could be the situation that exists where the pensions of many old people are concerned. 
Some of the old people are bullied and forced to hand over their pensions by younger family members, often able-bodied young men who just wait for "pension day" to prey on the old people.
 
In some cultures those who reach old age are respected and even honoured by the younger ones. Not so in our environment. It is indeed a sad commentary where we are concerned since the older members of the society are often more vulnerable to bad treatment, to the extent of being dropped off and abandoned at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). 

Steps have been taken to stop this type of abandonment but it is certain that the attitudes which encourage it have not been abandoned by those who harbour them, and would continue to surface easily once given an opportunity. 

It can be even more traumatic for those old people who have lost their wits but those who have not, but have been too trusting, can still find themselves at the receiving end when they placed friends or relatives in control of their assets, especially their bank accounts. 

Many a sad tale has been told of old people who realised too late that those they trusted in these cases cleaned them out or came near to doing so. Again, not many of these cases end up in court in Barbados. 

However, in countries like the United States and Britain where large sums of money are removed by relatives from the accounts of older people without their permission, the State intervenes, sometimes through the alertness of the banks handling the accounts, to protect the elderly victims from more fraud. It is often found that filial caring and love are not always enough to overcome the love these relatives have for the love of money --- money belonging to the old people. 

This is why we need to have laws to protect the elderly where relatives, in particular, are only prepared to victimise them rather than provide comfort and protection.

More Information on World Elder Rights Issues