ELDER ABUSE

ELDER ABUSE:

* 5. *Assoc. Prof. Kalyani K Mehta asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) what are the last three years' statistics on elder abuse in Singapore, with a breakdown according to age, gender, relationship with perpetrator, marital status, ethnicity and citizenship; (b) what is the number of times the Elder Protection Team was activated in the past year; and (c) whether there is an elder abuse protocol put in place by his Ministry.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon (for the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank Assoc. Prof. Kalyani Mehta for this Question and for her concern about elder abuse.

The number of reported elder abuse cases in the past three years has been stable. There were 186 cases in 2006, 181 in 2005 and 194 in 2004. On average, 64% of the reported cases were elderly women and 66% of the abused elderly persons were 70 years old and above. In 70% of the cases, the perpetrators were the victims' own children. The majority of the abused elderly persons were Singaporeans who were married with children. The ethnic breakdown of the cases is similar to Singapore's racial mix.

Any elderly person who is reported to be abused will be attended to. Depending on the first point of contact, the victim may be attended to by a medical social worker if the person is at the hospital or by a social worker from a Family Service Centre if he or she is in the community. When MCYS is informed of any abuse, our Ministry staff will also attend to the elderly person.

The Elder Protection Team is activated only for cases which are more complex. This team, spearheaded by TRANS Centre (a voluntary welfare organisation specialising in family violence work) consists of professionals with knowledge in geriatrics, psychiatry, law and social work. In the past year, the Elder Protection Team attended to seven new cases and reviewed five cases.

There is a robust protocol in place to manage elder abuse cases. A victim of abuse can approach a social worker, the hospital, the police or the court. Each of these agencies and individuals has been trained to provide assistance, make referrals to relevant agencies or activate the Elder Protection Team whenever necessary. We appreciate that an elderly person may be reluctant to seek help. Social workers, friends and grassroots leaders therefore play an important part in identifying elderly persons that need help and refer them to Family Service Centres, which can then follow up.

Assoc. Prof. Kalyani K Mehta (Nominated Member): Thank you for the answer. I need to further clarify. From my knowledge, there was a message once that Mr Chan Soo Sen made at the beginning of a symposium on family networking on violence. He said that approximately 100 cases were seen per year. So, if we compare these statistics with those that he showed at that symposium, I believe there could be an upward trend.

Two, I would like to find out what is the definition of complex cases which was just mentioned.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Mr Speaker, Sir, if we refer to the numbers, for 2004, it was 194; 2005, it was 181; and 2006, it was 186. So it is quite stable. But when we come to the factors, like I mentioned just now, most of the cases were actually abuse by their own children - over 40% by sons; over 20% by daughters; and about 12% by their own spouses. So they are not outsiders. For these cases, like I have said, we have a protocol. We work very closely with the Police, hospitals and the Family Service Centres. When an elderly person or a friend refers the case to us, the social workers will be involved. The social workers conduct risk assessment, work out safety plans and provide counselling. Fortunately, for over 50% of the cases, after counselling, both sides were quite happy to work with each other again. Actually, 90% of them still stay at the same place. Only 10% have looked for alternative care or gone to institutional care.

Of course, besides this protocol, some also went direct to the police or court. Some have applied for Personal Protection Order (PPO). The worst cases would be those who apply under the Maintenance of Parents Act to seek help for shelter and crisis homes. For some of them, we can even refer them to welfare homes if their children really cannot afford it. Most of the reasons for getting into trouble are chronic or long-term sicknesses like Parkinson's, dementia, and so on. I think the Chinese have a saying, "If you are sick for too long, there are no filial children." Anyway, the point is that now, we also work with some VWOs. I am sure Assoc. Prof. Mehta knows that we give the caregivers support as well. It is not just on why they become angry and abuse the elderly, but we also get relief for them and get the VWOs to train and give them support. We found that most of these people who abuse their parents are those who depend on the aged for financial support. They themselves do not do very well financially and so there is some relationship tension. We will do our best to work with the VWOs closely to help both sides to better understand each other.

Assoc. Prof. Kalyani K Mehta: I mentioned that in the period prior to 2002, for five years, the statistics were about 100 cases a year. Would she agree that for the numbers that she has cited, there may be an upward trend that you see?

Secondly, I want to know whether these statistics are compiled from the courts as well or it is mainly the VWOs that comprised these statistics.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: I do agree that there is a slow increase. I am sure she knows that our society is ageing. At this moment, it is still quite stable but we can foresee that it is ageing. Therefore, my Ministry and the VWOs also work towards planning for more services and areas on how to support the aged and their families. I am sure Mr Lim Boon Heng, in charge of the Inter-Ministry Committee, and the Government are already paying attention to this.

I mentioned just now that for the protocol, we would involve the police, hospitals and families. After all these processes, some of them still refer them to the courts for a Personal Protection Order (PPO). Also, some of the cases, according to the court, went direct to the courts. The courts so far have not given us the figures on how many were referred by us and how many were direct from the courts. But the total number for 2006 was 125. I assume some were referred from the 186 cases but some were direct from outside.

Dr Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade): I would like to ask the Minister of State if she can clarify the numbers that she mentioned. Were they just the physical abuse of the elderly or do they also include things like financial abuse and psychological abuse of the elderly which we know happen in society as well?

The second part is whether MCYS would like to consider embarking on an awareness campaign because, unlike child abuse and domestic violence, elderly abuse is something which is a bit quieter and needs a bit of enhancement and society as well.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Actually, physical abuse represents about 33% and psychological abuse about 17%, and financial abuse is not so high, at 13%. So I think physical abuse is still the highest. Definitely, public awareness is very important. I mentioned just now that we would work with quite a number of VWOs. We also set up training courses for the caregivers and their family members. At the same time, we also distribute some of the pamphlets to tell them how to handle the situation. If they really need help, there is also the helpline. Sometime ago, the Member mentioned that we should improve on the service of the helpline. The Minister has already instructed us to do so.