Financial Exploitation of the Elderly Population in Los Angeles - Essay Example

Financial Exploitation of the Elderly Population in Los Angeles Financial Exploitation of the Elderly Population in Los Angeles Community Selected The target population for the social change policy proposal is the elderly population of the county of Los Angeles (hereinafter referred to as LA) in California. California is one of the fastest growing States in the United States in terms of the total population(Myers & Pitkin , 2013). In 1990, the State accounted for 12% of the nation’s total population. This proportion is expected to grow to 14% by 2020. The elderly population is expected to grow at least twice as fast as the total population over the same period. Today, the elderly population of Los Angeles County stands at 1.4 million. This figure is expected to double more than to three million by 2030. This growth is expected to vary by the region. As the countys population ages, there is the growing need for authorities to put in place measures to mitigate the challenges the senior citizens may encounter. The vast size of the county implies that challenges facing its multimillion aging population can have serious implications for the rest of the residents of the county. Social Change Issue The issue that the policy proposal seeks to address is the financial exploitation or abuse of the senior citizens of LA. Financial abuse refers to the theft or misuse of the funds or property of any other description that belongs to an elder. Financial exploitation can vary from a simple act of snatching an elder’s wallet or manipulating the victim into surrendering their property to their exploiter. The consequences of financial exploitation of the elderly are dire; it could wipe off all their life savings, leaving the victim unable to meet their basic needs(Madow , 2008). Unable to meet their needs today and uncertain of what tomorrow brings, the elder who falls victim to financial abuse could easily despair. Financial exploitation of the elderly can take one of several forms. The interest of this paper is the abuse perpetrated by people who are close to the elderly person and who the elderly person trusts (Fealy, Donnelly, Berginn , Treacy, & Phelan, 2012). These people include family, friends, caregivers and estate planners. Many incidents have been reported of grown up children who manipulate their aging parents into handing over family estate to them. These incidents are most common where rivalry exists among the children. Driven by the fear of being disinherited by their siblings, some children resort to manipulating circumstances so that it appears that their parent entrusted to them the family estate out of their free will. However, few such cases are reported while the majority of them remain unreported. In a desperate attempt to save the face and image of the affected family, many elderly persons opt not to report the incidences to the police. They do so in spite of the serious consequences of the vice. Alongside family are friends, some of whom may take advantage of elderly persons, especially those who live alone. Given the demands of modern living, many American families are finding it extremely difficult to look after their aging ones. Consequently, such families employ caregivers to care of the elderly from the comfort and familiarity of their homes(Ayers & Olander, 2013). Home-based caregivers are an attractive alternative to keeping the elderly in homes for the aging. Because the elder relies heavily on the care of the care for most of their daily activities, trust necessarily develops between the two. Rather than guard the trust they have earned from their client, some caregivers take advantage of it. In order for their designs to succeed, such unscrupulous caregivers start by isolating the old person from people concerned in the well-being of the elderly person. These people include family, friends and social workers. Having isolated the elderly person, the caregiver may proceed to threaten their client by demanding that the elder gives them a given amount of money if they are to continue enjoying their services. The average elderly person of contemporary America is more affluent than their counterpart of the last few decades(Rabiner , OKeeffe, & Brown , 2006). Estate planning enables senior citizens to manage their wealth. Estate planning entails putting one’s personal and financial matters in order so as to avoid problems when they die or become incapacitated. Estate planning apparatus comprise the supremacy of attorney, wills and trusts among others. People can exploit the power that estate planning tools give them. For instance, the person preparing a "Power of Attorney" must entrust the care of an elder into the hands of an individual who does not care for the elder. Some scrupulous estate planners may also steal from their client. The general low level of financial literacy makes the senior citizen more susceptible(Madow , 2008) to financial fraud. Need for the Protection of the Elderly Population against Financial Exploitation It is widely believed that most senior citizens who fall victim to financial fraud are poorly informed and live in isolation. Many of them possibly suffer from mental deterioration and hold dear conservative values that make it difficult for them to detect fraud. However, recent studies have refuted the old stereotypes. These studies have found that the victims of financial exploitation more educated and informed and have stronger social ties than previously imagined. For instance, a major survey by AARP found that victims of fraud were relatively affluent and had a good education and well-networked with family and friends. Still, 90% of them had difficulty distinguishing between a genuine and a fraudulent telemarketing pitch. Even those who rightly identified the pitch as being fraudulent had difficulty ending the conversation with the telemarketer. For decades, financial fraud against elders was believed to be perpetrated by strangers. The belief is fast changing. Increasingly, the elderly are being abused by their relatives and caregivers(Anonymous, 2004). Unlike strangers, these two categories of people enjoy positions of trust and established relationships with the elderly. Unfortunately, some relatives and caregivers abuse their positions of trust and defraud the elders. They do so by stealing, withholding or otherwise misappropriating the money or another property of the elderly victim for their personal gain. The ploys the offenders use include intimidation, coercion and deceit. Also, they try to isolate the victim from people who may be concerned with their well-being. Left alone with the older, they go ahead and abuse them. Demandfor the Protection of the Elderly Population against Financial Exploitation Researchers are in agreement that most cases of fraud go unreported(Madow , 2008). This scenario has a number of implications. First, the failure of the victims to report means that they do not harness the capacities of the police and family members to stop the offenses. Secondly, the failure to report these crimes makes it difficult for law enforcers to devise practical solutions to curb the crimes as they have limited information on the offenders and their methods. Lastly, the failure to report may encourage offenders to re-victimize their victims and offend others. Many senior citizens fail to report exploitation for a number of reasons. Some feel ashamed. Others fear that by reporting the fraud, they will be seen as incapable of taking care of themselves, something that could trigger their being placed in a care facility. In instances where the crime is committed by a relative, the victim may feel the need to protect the offender against legal action. The definition of an "elderly person" varies from one state to the next. In addition, there are several types of financial exploitation. These factors render it difficult to estimate the national prevalence of financial exploitation of elderly persons(Caccamise & Mason , 2004). Despite the challenge, many national organizations have conducted studies that have developed ways of defining and quantifying the financial exploitation of senior citizens. A number of the studies focus on consumer fraud and estimate that twenty to sixty percent of adult Americans have either been or narrowly escaped being victims of fraud. These studies do not report the prevalence by age, by that making it difficult to estimate the number of elderly persons who have fallen victim to financial abuse. Overall, however, researchers believe that cases of financial fraud against the aging population are on the rise, hence more demand for protection except that by failing to report fraud, the victims fail to express their demand for family, state and federal protection. Current State of Social Policies The author of this paper did not find any evidence from the resources accessed to the effect that the State of California has a policy on the protection of senior citizens against financial exploitation. Such a policy would have provided a legal framework within which the State would have taken measures to protect the elderly citizens from financial abuse. Instead, what the author accessed were guidelines on how the citizens of California could prevent and report elder abuse. The scope of the guide is wide; besides financial abuse, it covers physical abuse and abuse in the provision of healthcare. The guide recognizes all the five major financial abuses identified earlier. While it is a step in the right direction, the guide is not the most effective way of dealing with the problem as it lacks legal force. Successive federal governments have enacted a number of laws to care for the nations aging citizens. These include the Older Americans Act (OAA) of 1965 that expired in 2011, the Elder Justice Act, the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank’s Act of 2010 (Reiser &Einsenkraft, 2013). For years, a national policy on the protection of senior citizens against financial abuse has remained a pipe dream, partly because Congress has been reluctant to allocate adequate funds for the initiative. However, in June 2012, the Obama administration announced initial funding to the tune of $5.5 million to enable states explore ways of ending elder exploitation. The funds were to be granted to organizations for use in piloting interventions among the aging and populations at risk. At the same time the "Missing Link Project" was launched to coordinate all state and federal efforts at protecting the aging against financial and another abuse. Needs Assessment Measuring Tools The following combination of tools will be used to assess the needs of the proposed social change policy: A Guide to Actionable Measurement This is a practice-based tool developed by the Bill and Belinda Gates Foundation to guide the foundation on how best to allocate their time and resources to research work(Ayers & Olander, 2013). The approach is based on three principles. First, specific decisions should be based on measurement. Secondly, not everything is measured: only what matters. Thirdly, the information obtained from research should help the organization learn and improve their strategies. This tool is important in the formulation of the proposed policy as a good policy is driven by a felt need. The best way to ascertain the needs the aging population of LA is through research. A Practical Guide for Engaging Stakeholders in Developing Evaluation Questions The essence of this practical guide is to secure the input of stakeholders throughout a program(Chinyio & Akintonye, 2008). The guide outlines a five-stage process for involving stakeholders in developing questions against which the effectiveness of the program will be evaluated. It also incorporates four worksheets to guide the planning and implementation of the process of involving the stakeholders. Effective stakeholder participation increases the chances of the program succeeding as the stakeholders get to own it. In the case of the social change policy, the major stakeholders include the elderly people, their family, friends and relatives, caregivers and state and federal institutions. All these must be brought on board throughout the process of formulating the policy if it is to be viable. Cost-Benefit Analysis This is a tool for estimating the costs of a proposed course action against its benefits(Irz, 2008). The costs and benefits include both the monetary and the non-monetary ones such as social and environmental impacts. In the terminology of the tool, benefits refer to the positive or desirable impacts of a course of action while costs to the negative or undesirable impacts. Even the non-monetary impacts are expressed in monetary terms to make possible comparison. If the benefits significantly exceed the costs, the course of action is worth pursuing. Otherwise, the course of action should be abandoned in favor of another alternative. Annotated Bibliography Myers, D., & Pitkin, J. (2013). The Generational Future of Los Angeles: Projections to 2030 and Comparisons to Recent Decades. Los Angeles: Sol Price School of Public Policy. This report describes the current and projects the future population patterns of the Los Angeles County over twenty years from 2010 to 2030. The report shows that while the total population of the county is one of the fastest growing in the country, the elderly population is growing even faster: over the next two decades, it is expected to double more than from the current 1.4 million to over three million. The main strength of the report is that draws from the most current information, having been published in 2013. The resource is useful to the proposed social policy change as it brings to the fore the urgent need to act in order to protect the county’s growing aging population from exploitation. Madow, D. (2008). Why Many Meritorious Elder Abuse Cases in California Are Not Litigated. University of San Francisco Law Review , 47 619-646. Madow claims that elder abuse has fast evolved into a national disaster. The author goes ahead to quote the Office of the Attorney General of California as having reported that every year, about 200,000 senior Californian are abused. The bold tone of Madow’s statement contradicts sharply with that of many scholars who are quite conservative when it comes to quoting figures. Their reservation stems from the facts that there is not a single nationally accepted definition of who an elderly person is and most studies so far have not segregated data on financial fraud. Madows article is quite general on the subject of the abuse of elderly people; not narrowing down to a specific type of abuse. However, it contributes significantly to this paper especially on the issue of most abuses going unreported. Fealy, G., Donnelly, N., Berginn, A., Treacy, M., & Phelan, A. (2012). Financial abuse of older people: Review. Dublin: University College of Dublin. Fealy et al. give a vivid description of the major forms of financial exploitation targeted at elderly people. These include predatory lending, telemarketing, identity theft, fraudulent estate planners and scams involving home improvement services. The information the authors provide is up to date even though the forms of abuse they have covered are not the only ones senior citizens experience. An understanding of these forms of exploitation is important as they help in focusing the policy. However, the policy must not take too narrow a perspective on the matter Reiser, J. G., & Einsenkraft, M. (2013). Dodd-Franks Protections for Senior Citizens: An Important, Yet Insufficient Step. University of Cincinnati Law Review, 81.2 521-550. Reiser et al. demonstrate how successive Acts from the Older Americans Act (OAA) of 1965 to Dodd-Franks Act of 2010 have failed to protect older Americans from acts of financial exploitation. According to the authors, all the Acts have tended to take a piecemeal yet ambiguous approach to the problem hence the dismal results. They advocate a comprehensive national policy on the protection of the aging population against financial and other forms of abuse. The authors’ work underscores the urgent need for not only a national policy, but also one at the state level. However, it is imperative that the state policy be consistent with the national one. Irz, X. (2008). The cost–benefit analysis of food safety policies: is it useful? Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 21.2159-164. Irz et al. argue that despite its limitations, cost-benefit analysis remains the most popular tool for assessing the viability of public actions. The tool entails weighing the total possible outcomes of a proposed action or project against its total negative outcomes. Both categories of outcomes are monetized, that is they are expressed in dollar terms. If the benefits of the intended action exceed the costs, the project is viable and worth pursuing. Otherwise, it should be dropped in favor of another alternative course of action. The main limitation of the technique is that not every impact can be monetized. For instance, the depression an elderly person experiences because their life savings have been swept away in a scam cannot be expressed in dollar terms. However, the tool remains a useful one in evaluating the proposed policy. References Anonymous. (2004). Protecting Older Americans: A History of Federal Action on Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect,14.2-3 9-31. Ayers , S., & Olander, E. (2013). What are we measuring and why? Using theory to guide perinatal research and measurement. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 31.5439-448. Caccamise , P., & Mason , A. (2004). Policy Paper: New York State Summit Targets Elder Abuse, “The Time to Act Is Now”. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 16.441-61. Chinyio, E., & Akintonye, A. (2008). Practical approaches for engaging stakeholders: findings from the UK. Construction Management and Economics, 26.6591-599. Fealy, G., Donnelly, N., Berginn , A., Treacy, M., & Phelan, A. (2012). Financial abuse of older people: Review. Dublin: University College of Dublin. Irz, X. (2008). The cost–benefit analysis of food safety policies: is it useful? Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 21.2159-164. Madow , D. (2008). Why Many Meritorious Elder Abuse Cases in California Are Not Litigated. University of San Francisco Law Review , 47619-646. Myers, D., & Pitkin , J. (2013). The Generational Future of Los Angeles: Projections to 2030 and Comparisons to Recent Decades. Los Angeles: Sol Price School of Public Policy. Rabiner , D., OKeeffe, J., & Brown , D. (2006). Financial Exploitation of Older Persons. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 18.247-68. Reiser, J. G., & Einsenkraft, M. (2013). Dodd-Franks Protections for Senior Citizens: An Important, Yet Insufficient Step. University of Cincinnati Law Review, 521-550. Read More