From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Elder Abuse by Guardians Description: Audio interview by GAO staff with Kathy Larin, Director, Forensic Audits and Investigative Service Related GAO Works: GAO-17-33: Elder Abuse: The Extent of Abuse by Guardians is Unknown, but Some Measure Exist to Help Protect Older Adults and GAO-17-273T: Elder Abuse: The Extent of Abuse by Guardians Is Unknown, but Some Measures Are Being Taken to Help Protect Older Adults Released: November 2016 [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It's November 2016. The number of adults over age 65 is expected to nearly double in the United States by 2050. When an older adult becomes incapable of making informed decisions, a guardianship may be necessary. A team led by Kathy Larin, a Director in GAO's Forensic Audits and Investigative Service team, recently looked at what's known about the extent of elder abuse by guardians, and federal, state and local efforts to protect older adults with guardians. Jacques Arsenault sat down with Kathy to talk about what they found. [ Jacques Arsenault: ] Your team looked at abuse of older adults by guardians. What do we know about how big of a problem this is? [ Kathy Larin: ] Unfortunately, we really know very little. There are no national statistics and currently no national database that pulls together information on things like the number of guardians assigned to older adults, the number of older adults that have guardians, or the number of abuse cases. Guardianships are typically handled at the state level by the state court system and so one of the things we did for this report is reach out to six different states with large elderly populations to see if there was more information available at the state level and what we found is that while state courts do collect some information of interest, for example, they may know the number of guardians in the state or the number of abuse cases in the state, they don't really track that information by the age of the person involved. So we still have very little information even at the state level on the number of cases of abuse involving older adults and guardians. [ Jacques Arsenault: ] So, to take a step back, what types of behaviors are we talking about when we use the word abuse in this report? [ Kathy Larin: ] Really any type of abuse can effect an older adult. So that would include physical or sexual abuse, neglect or abandonment, psychological or emotional abuse, and what we most often think of in the context of older adults: financial exploitation. But it's important to note that these types of abuse don't necessarily occur in isolation. As part of our report, we looked in depth at eight cases involving guardians and elder abuse. What we found is that some of those cases simply involved financial exploitation, but others involved more than one type of abuse. Say, financial exploitation and neglect. [ Jacques Arsenault: ] Older adults are certainly a vulnerable population. Are there efforts to be collecting more data or getting a better sense of what the numbers are? [ Kathy Larin: ] There are efforts underway. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging has developed a new database called the National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System, and that will compile data from Adult Protective Services Departments from throughout the country. And the goal of the database will be to provide consistent and accurate national data on elder abuse, and our understanding is it can be used to determine how much abuse is being inflicted by guardians. So very soon that will be a good resource for getting a better handle on the problem. [ Jacques Arsenault: ] So beyond just getting a better sense of how big the problem is, can you talk about what's the role of the federal government or the states in protecting against or preventing abuse of older adults? [ Kathy Larin: ] So the federal government does not regulate or directly support guardianship, but there are a number of federal grants that help prevent guardian abuse. There are grants to improve the oversight and monitoring of guardians, for developing standards for guardianship, and also for supporting local partnerships that pull together court officials, family members, service providers to support guardianships and help prevent abuse. At the state level, there are also a number of efforts underway. These include screening to ensure that only those older adults that really need a guardian are assigned one, education so guardians better understand both their fiduciary and their caregiving responsibilities, monitoring of caregiving and of spending by guardians, and enforcement so that if someone is found to abuse their position, they're removed from that position and face penalties. [ Jacques Arsenault: ] Now, I wanted to be sure to ask this question even though it's not quite in the scope of the report, but if one of our listeners or somebody knows about or suspects abuse of an older adult either by guardians or otherwise, who can they call or what steps should they take? [ Kathy Larin: ] It's really important that people report suspected abuse. If anyone thinks that an older adult is in immediate danger, of course, they should call 911. But otherwise, the best resource is the local Adult Protective Services Agency. The National Center on Elder Abuse is also a great resource, and it lays out the steps you should take if you suspect elder abuse. [ Jacques Arsenault: ] So then finally, when it comes to protecting vulnerable older adults, what would you say is the bottom line in this report? [ Kathy Larin: ] The number of adults over the age of 65 is expected to nearly double by the year 2050, and this is going to lead in a substantial increase in the number of older adults who need guardians. This is an especially vulnerable population. So in light of that, it will be increasingly important for those at all levels of the government to be aware of the potential for abuse and to take steps to prevent it by implementing some of the best practices that we lay out in our report. [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] To learn more, visit GAO.gov and be sure to tune in to the next episode of GAO's Watchdog Report for more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office.