Everyone wants to know that their loved one is safe in their nursing home. Despite how much effort you put into researching the quality of care that different nursing homes offer and what kind of services they can provide for your loved one, it is still possible that your vulnerable elder can suffer from elder abuse.
Regular visits with your loved one can help prevent physical abuse, but financial abuse is harder to recognize. Financial elder abuse is more common than people may expect and results in billions of dollars in theft every year. To help combat this abuse, here are three ways you can determine if your loved one is suffering from financial elder abuse:
Monitor financial accounts
Checking in on your loved ones with regular visits is a great way to keep an eye on them, but you should also do the same for their financial accounts. Fraud and internet scams can easily drain bank accounts over a long time if no one is watching them. Vulnerable adults are susceptible to coercion and confusion to get them to spend money that they should not.
Hovering employees
When you visit your loved one in their nursing home, keep an eye out for any staff members that may be too invasive in your visit. If a staff member is committing financial abuse, they may try to protect themselves by overseeing your conversations and steer the dialogue away from anything that could expose their actions.
Keep track of possessions
When you visit your loved ones, make sure that you are monitoring their possessions. Vulnerable adults may “lend” a beloved pearl necklace to someone at the home and never see it again. If possible, avoid leaving anything you do not want your loved one to lose at the home.
It can happen to anyone
What a parent is in their golden years, financial abuse can become a major concern for them. Stay vigilant about your loved one’s assets, as nursing home faculty can take advantage of them, just like any online or over-the-phone scammer could do. Earning control over your loved one’s assets can help prevent abuse as well.