The stats aren’t good. According to Arizona’s Adult Protective Services, there were more than 25,000 reports of vulnerable adult maltreatment in fiscal year 2022. That’s the highest number in the past five fiscal years.
One way to tackle elder abuse is by educating aging advocates at conferences, like one hosted by the Department of Economic Security.
"We're getting together a couple of 100 professionals in aging, to hear from some experts to learn the best practices about elder abuse, how to address it, how to see it, stop it, prevent it, as well as some other trends in aging," said Brett Bezio with DES.
Intimate partner violence is one form of abuse that was discussed.
"The elderly community is definitely impacted with we know by domestic violence and sexual assault. And it is a forgotten demographic of people," explained Latrice Jackson-Anderson, with the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence. "And they are fearful in telling what's happening, because usually the spouse is the caregiver."
Which means they might threaten to send that vulnerable person to a nursing home, for example.
"So those are the fears. And those are the threats that normally do happen," Jackson-Anderson said.
According to the National Council on Aging, two-thirds of abuse perpetrators are adult children or spouses.
