III 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 549 

Designating June 15, 2018, as ‘‘World Elder Abuse Awareness Day’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 14, 2018 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. CASEY, Mr. MURPHY, and 

Mrs. MCCASKILL) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Designating June 15, 2018, as ‘‘World Elder Abuse 

Awareness Day’’. 

Whereas the Federal Government estimates that more than 

1 in 10 persons over the age of 60 are victims of elder 

abuse each year; 

Whereas abuse, neglect, and exploitation of older adults in 

the United States are unidentified and unreported because of an inability to report or a fear of reporting; 

Whereas only 1 in 14 cases of financial abuse of older adults 

is reported; 

Whereas at least $2,900,000,000 is taken from older adults 

each year due to financial abuse and exploitation; 


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•SRES 549 IS 

Whereas elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation have no 

boundaries and cross all racial, social, class, gender, and 

geographic lines; 

Whereas older adults who are abused are 3 times more likely 

to die earlier than older adults of the same age who are 

not abused; 

Whereas 1⁄2 of all older adults with dementia will experience 

abuse; 

Whereas providing unwanted medical treatment can be a 

form of elder abuse and exploitation; 

Whereas there is evidence of an increase in elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation linked to individuals with 

opioid addiction; 

Whereas the Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act 

(34 U.S.C. 21701 et seq.) was signed into law on October 

18, 2017, but there is still more that can be done to stop 

elder abuse; 

Whereas financial abuse of older adults has consistently been 

one of the top 10 complaints made each year to the fraud 

hotline of the Special Committee on Aging of the Senate; 

Whereas public awareness has the potential to increase the 

identification and reporting of elder abuse by the public, 

professionals, and victims, and can act as a catalyst to 

promote issue-based education and long-term prevention; 

Whereas private individuals and public agencies must work 

together on the Federal, State, and local levels to combat 

increasing occurrences of abuse, neglect, exploitation, 

crime, and violence against vulnerable older adults and 

vulnerable adults, particularly in light of limited resources for vital protective services; and 


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•SRES 549 IS 

Whereas 2018 is the 13th anniversary of World Elder Abuse 

Awareness Day: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) designates June 15, 2018, as ‘‘World Elder 

3 Abuse Awareness Day’’; 

4 (2) recognizes judges, lawyers, adult protective 

5 services professionals, law enforcement officers, long6 term care ombudsmen, social workers, health care 

7 providers, professional guardians, advocates for vic8 tims, and other professionals and agencies for efforts 

9 to advance awareness of elder abuse; and 

10 (3) encourages members of the public and pro11 fessionals who work with older adults to act as cata12 lysts to promote awareness and long-term prevention 

13 of elder abuse by reaching out to local adult protec14 tive services agencies, long-term care ombudsman 

15 programs, and the National Center on Elder Abuse, 

16 and by learning to recognize, detect, report, and re17 spond to elder abuse. 

Æ 


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