Old Age Abuse

Age Concern always seeks to be at the forefront in raising issues of importance as part of our continuing fight to improve the quality of life of older people. To this end we are privi­ leged in being able to draw on the skills of people with the commitment, expertise and enthusiasm to press for much needed change. When, some years ago, we published a book by Mervyn Eastman on old age abuse, the subject was largely unrecognized. He played a pioneering role in drawing atten­ tion to this difficult and sensitive topic, classifying the various types of abuse, analysing their causes, their tragic effects and the different contexts in which they were likely to occur. Earlier, when I joined Age Concern, I had been struck by the paucity of knowledge of old age abuse. My previous work with children and young people provided me with stark reminders of how much more developed both policy and prac­ tice were in dealing with the abuse of children. Even in that field there was still much to learn, and subsequent legislation, policy guidelines and codes of practice have taken us further down the road by constructing clear lines of accountability and by protecting and representing children at risk, by helping potential abusers and developing practice that avoids punish­ ing victims through removing them from their homes.