Ben Boland on the scourge of elder abuse
The resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the global Anglican communion, for not reporting abuse within the church continues a terrible pattern. Yet again Jesus love has been overshadowed by the sins of His disciples. I hope this article functions as a watchman’s cry of warning to the church: It is not enough to not be abusive, we need to proactively fight abuse.
I have been attending safe ministry training or safeguarding training for almost 20 years and I have made reports to police – never a ‘fun’ experience but a critical one. Yet I am afraid. In my observation allegations too often surface decades after the abuse occurred and part of the ‘problem’ is that society’s expectations have moved. I say ‘problem’ not to diminish the abhorrence of abuse, but that because we the church, followed societies historical lead in not believing children, we failed them. While ever we simply follow (and to often have been dragged by) society’s expectations, we fail to truly show Jesus love. So, where are we at risk in terms of preventing and reporting abuse in the church today?
Elder Abuse.
What is that? I hear people ask, and that’s the problem. We all know about child abuse, about domestic abuse, but many people do not realise that Elder Abuse (EA) is common in society and the church, or even what it is.
Here are some hypothetical examples:
- John’s daughter ‘borrowed’ and then sold his car. When he confronted her, she threatened to never bring the grandchildren around again.
- Jean’s son pressured her into moving into residential care so he could have her house.
- David’s granddaughter moved into his home to ‘care’ for him. She provided minimal care, was verbally abusive and not only lived rent free but used David’s pension to buy food and drink for herself.
- Mary’s daughter took intimate photographs of her while she was ‘assisting’ her to shower and used them to extort money from her. Mary could not face the shame of telling anyone that her own daughter could be so wicked.
- Bill was living with dementia and had occasionally gone out and got lost. Each morning his son restrained him by placing him in a low lounge chair he could not get out of so he would be ‘safe’.
- Estel’s daughter Laura cared for her with minimal support for over a decade. For many years the relationship was caring if incredibly tiring and Laura became exhausted. She started to neglect Estel and herself, which led to them both becoming malnourished and depressed and led to Estel’s death.
EA is a global phenomenon [1] which is mentioned in the Bible [2]. Before examining how the church can help prevent EA it is important to define it. Problematically, definitions of EA vary [3]. However, as the focus of this article is the Australian context lets follow the Australian government who use the WHO definition (though the lack of spiritual abuse in this definition is common if concerning [4]):
Elder abuse can be defined as ‘a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person’. Elder abuse can take various forms such as physical, psychological or emotional, sexual and financial abuse. It can also be the result of intentional or unintentional neglect. [5]
In terms of prevalence EA is under reported [6], but it is estimated one in six older Australians have experienced EA [7] and COVID19 has increased Australian EA levels [8].
As with other forms of abuse, EA happens in churches [9]. Moreover, church workers can be perpetrators of abuse of adults [10]. In terms of sexual abuse, abuse of vulnerable adults by clergy is more common than child sexual abuse [11].
Thankfully, churches have the opportunity to prevent EA [12]. Yet, many Australian denominations have limited resources about EA [13]. This lack may be due to EA being ‘the last form of family violence to be recognised’ [14] but it is a major concern as lack of awareness and reporting of EA contributes to such abuse [15]. Additionally, supporting older people and their carers has been shown to provide protection
[1] De Donder, L., Luoma, M.-L., Penhale, B., Lang, G., Santos, A. J., Tamutiene, I., Koivusilta, M., Schopf, A., Ferreira Alves, J., Reingarde, J., Perttu, S., Savola, T., & Verté, D. (2011). European map of prevalence rates of elder abuse and its impact for future research. European Journal of Ageing, 8(2), 129–143. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-011-0187-3 , p. 130.
[2] Phelan, A. (2020). Advances in Elder Abuse Research: Practice, Legislation and Policy (1st ed. 2020., Vol. 24). Springer International Publishing AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25093-5, p. 2. Phelan, chapter Introduction
[3] Kaspiew, R., Carlson, R., & Rhoades, H. (2016). Elder abuse: Understanding issues, framwrok and responces. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family studies. P. 2.
[4] Stodolska, A., Zawisza, K., Panuś, T., Tobiasz-Adamczyk, B., & Grodzicki, T. (2024). Is church attendance associated with quality of life of older adults? Findings from a cross-sectional study in Poland. Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging, 36(2), 188–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/15528030.2023.2186562, p. 189.
Podnieks, E. (2001). Elder Abuse: A Challenge for the Compassionate Church: A Literature Review. Journal of Religious & Theological Information, 4(2), 59–91. https://doi.org/10.1300/J112v04n02_06, p. 83.
[5] https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/protecting-rights-older-australians#top
[6] Acierno, R., Hernandez, M. A., Amstadter, A. B., Resnick, H. S., Steve, K., Muzzy, W., & Kilpatrick, D. G. (2010). Prevalence and Correlates of Emotional, Physical, Sexual, and Financial Abuse and Potential Neglect in the United States: The National Elder Mistreatment Study. American Journal of Public Health (1971), 100(2), 292–297. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.163089, p. 292.
[7] Australian government – https://www.aihw.gov.au/family-domestic-and-sexual-violence/population-groups/older-people#:~:text=around%201%20in%206%20(598%2C000,abuse%20in%20the%20past%20year (accessed 9/1/24)
[8] Weissberger, G. H., Lim, A. C., Mosqueda, L., Schoen, J., Axelrod, J., Nguyen, A. L., Wilber, K. H., Esquivel, R. S., & Han, S. D. (2022). Elder abuse in the COVID-19 era based on calls to the National Center on Elder Abuse resource line. BMC Geriatrics, 22(1), 689–689. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-022-03385-w
[9] Podnieks, E. (2001). Elder Abuse: A Challenge for the Compassionate Church: A Literature Review. Journal of Religious & Theological Information, 4(2), 59–91. https://doi.org/10.1300/J112v04n02_06, p. 65-66.
[10] Blake, G. (2021). Enhancing the Safety of All Persons within the Anglican Communion: Initiatives of the Instruments of Communion. Journal of Anglican Studies, 19(2), 134–150. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740355321000346, p. 135.
[11] De Weger, S. E., & Death, J. (2017). Clergy Sexual Misconduct Against Adults in the Roman Catholic Church: The Misuse of Professional and Spiritual Power in the Sexual Abuse of Adults. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 30(3), 227–257. https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.32747, p. 237.
[12] Ben R. Boland, https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/six-signs-of-elder-abuse-and-how-you-can-help/
Phelan, Amanda. (2013). International perspectives on elder abuse. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203387054, p. 43. Chapter Australia, by Susan Kueele.
Schaffer, J. (1999). Older and Isolated Women and Domestic Violence Project. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 11(1), 59–77. https://doi.org/10.1300/J084v11n01_04, p. 65.
[13] Australian Christian Churches Queensland and Northern Territory – https://www.qldacc.org.au/ministries/acc-safer-churches/ (accessed 9/1/24)
Anglican Diocese of Southern Queensland – https://www.anglicanchurchsq.org.au/safeguarding (accessed 9/1/24)
Uniting Church of Australia Queensland Synod – https://ucaqld.com.au/synod-services/ (accessed 9/1/24)
Queensland Baptists – https://www.qb.org.au › uploads › 2020/05 (accessed 9/1/24)
[14] Phelan, A. (2020). Advances in Elder Abuse Research: Practice, Legislation and Policy (1st ed. 2020., Vol. 24). Springer International Publishing AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25093-5, p. 12. Phelan and Ayalon, chapter The intersection of ageism and elder abuse
[15] Hall, Y., Greco, P., Hau, K., & Barak, Y. (2020). Older adults abuse: analysis of a New Zealand national dataset. International Psychogeriatrics, 32(8), 1003–1008. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610220001520, p. 1003.
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