Support for Elders and the Disabled
HarborCOV's domestic violence advocacy goal is to increase awareness, access, and responsiveness of services for elder and disabled women who are victims of domestic violence. HarborCOV works in collaboration with Councils on Elder Affairs, senior centers, police departments, housing providers to provide outreach, advocacy, and support services to elder and disabled victims and survivors.
An Underserved Community
Researchers investigating elder abuse have found that "older women who are physically abused by either their spouse or an adult child are least likely of all abuse victims to accept services"1 from traditional elders services programs. Additionally, "of survivors of domestic violence, elder women are the least likely age group to receive services"2 from battered women's programs. These observations clearly show that there are gaps that leave a large underserved population of victims of domestic abuse without services they may desperately need to stay safe.
Breaking Down Barriers
Barriers to access to domestic violence services for older women and women with disabilities break down into two broad categories:
Societal silence and stereotypes about older and disabled women as victims of domestic violence render such victims invisible, reluctant to disclose abuse, and trapped in self-blame and isolation.
Systemic issues including insensitivity, inadequate capacity, and failure to effectively coordinate elder services and battered women's providers severely limit access to resources for elder and disabled victims.
Overcoming these barriers requires a concerted effort by service providers to educate themselves and one another about the needs of older and disabled victims and survivors. Elder and disabled people who may have been experiencing domestic violence for many years could be reluctant to seek help from strangers. They may fear losing a caregiver and financial support. They may be afraid they will lose their ability to live outside of a nursing home. They may believe that the only way to access domestic violence services is by going into a shelter, or they may find that shelters cannot provide physical or programmatic accommodations that would enable them to start a new life.
Developing New Approaches
We must work to overcome the stereotypes and limitations in battered women's organizations and tailor programs to welcome and accommodate women with different needs. We must examine our policies, outreach materials, and training to ensure we reflect an awareness of differing needs and we must listen to elder and disabled victims and respond creatively to their concerns. This may involve reworking safety planning, developing new groups, offering programs in different locations, hiring additional staff, and investing in physical plant improvements.
Building Effective Partnerships
Battered women's programs and agencies that serve senior citizens have not traditionally worked together. We need to engage in cross training and work to develop common language and understanding in order to build effective partnerships.
When we come together and commit the resources that will be needed to reach and serve older and disabled victims of domestic violence we will begin to engage in shared outreach, co-facilitation, and improve referral mechanisms.
It is difficult to determine accurate numbers of elder and disabled victims of domestic violence because of lack of attention to these groups by battered women's providers, and an unenlightened perspective long held in the senior services community blaming elder abuse on caregiver stress . However, anecdotal and historical understanding of domestic violence lead us to believe that the domestic violence in these populations is significant and as prevalent as in any other group of women in this country.Because many shelter programs and senior services agencies do not serve these groups there is an even greater need for enhanced and additional new programs.
Sources
1 Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence
2 South Shore Women's Center
For more information about elder and disabled services at HarborCOV please call 617-884-9799 x136.
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