National Council on the Aging (NCOA) NCOA's National Pre-White House Conferenceon Aging: A Background Paper on Elder Abuse

摘要

Elder abuse is not a new problem and probably has occurred for centuries. Butsociety's recognition of the problem is relatively new. In the United States, for example, elder abuse was not recognized as a growing social problem until the early 1970s, when sociologists became interested in studying the problem and when several states enacted adult protective service laws. Federal recognition of elder abuse did not occur until 1978, when members of Congress first heard the term 'battered elderly' during one of the hearings. Given the purpose of this paper, this section mainly focuses on the evolution of federal policy on elder abuse.