Each year on June 15th, communities around the globe come together to observe World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD). At its foundation, WEAAD is about respecting older individuals, acknowledging their dignity, and ensuring that everyone can live and age without fear or harm. It also serves as an important reminder for us all to be aware of the signs of elder abuse and become familiar with the remedies and resources that support older adults’ safety and wellbeing.
While definitions of elder abuse vary, the term generally refers to any form of mistreatment, like physical, sexual, or emotional harm, neglect, abandonment, stalking, or financial exploitation, that happens to an older person. This can occur in situations where there’s trust, like between spouses, family members, or caregivers, or may happen when an older person is harmed by a stranger because of their age or disability.
Elder abuse research estimates that up to 5 million older adults experience some form of abuse each year[i]—a figure that is expected to rise as our country enters an era with the largest surge of retirement-aged older adults in our nation’s history. In 2025, an average of 11,400 Americans will celebrate their 65th birthday every day! [ii] This is an unprecedented milestone—4.18 million people will reach the traditional retirement age this year alone!
Studies also suggest that fewer than 5% of elder abuse cases are reported[iii], indicating that the true scale of the issue is significantly underestimated. And the consequences of elder abuse are devastating—physically, psychologically, emotionally, and financially—for the victims. When older people are harmed, it can be harder for them to recover from both physical injuries and financial damage and those who experience abuse tend to have higher rates of hospitalization and mortality. This highlights an urgent need for increased awareness of the specific challenges faced by older survivors and tailored, coordinated intervention strategies and services to support them.
Taking Action
Much of elder abuse is domestic violence (DV), sexual assault (SA), and stalking. Yet, when most people think of who is impacted by these crimes, they typically think of a younger victim. Victim services are often designed with younger adults in mind. At the same time, the elder abuse field often overlooks coercive power and control dynamics. When this happens, there is a gap between fields and older survivors are often unable to access the support and services they need. If we commit to raising awareness and building community around the issue of elder abuse, we will become more intentional about meeting the needs of all older survivors and making sure that older survivors can find and access the services and support that’s right for them.
Raising Awareness: By drawing attention to elder abuse, we recognize that the severe and growing elder abuse crisis is not a separate issue from domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking—older adults, too, are impacted by these abuses.
By increasing awareness that DV, SA, and stalking happens across the lifespan, we can ensure that communities recognize the signs of elder abuse and understand the devastating impact it has on victims. Knowledge empowers professionals and the public to act—whether it’s reporting suspicious behavior, expanding support services for older victims, or advocating for stronger protections. Without widespread awareness, elder abuse will continue to be a silent epidemic, and victims may remain at risk. Raising awareness is the first step toward creating safer environments and holding perpetrators accountable.
Building Community: When an older adult experiences abuse, it often impacts many aspects of their lives. As a result, they may reach out to trusted spaces like their community center or faith community or known supports like a domestic violence or sexual assault agency, law enforcement, or legal aid. They may also seek help from adult protective services, aging services, or disability rights agencies. Each of these entities, and many more, play an important role in promoting victim safety and wellbeing. Investing time to create authentic relationships within your community will help address gaps or duplication of services and ultimately create a seamless response to the needs of older victims.
By building community, we can create a coordinated, collaborative response to elder abuse. This helps ensure that older adults’ needs are addressed in victim services, and that DV, SA and stalking are addressed in elder abuse responses.
Tips for WEAAD and Beyond
The following tips offer some ideas for raising awareness and building community throughout the year and leveraging World Elder Abuse Awareness Day to let older survivors know services and support are available.
- Create public education campaigns: Launch a social media campaign to educate the public about the signs of elder abuse and how to report it.
- Host community discussions: Facilitate open dialogues throughout the year about elder abuse in your community, where people can hear from experts, victims, and advocates, fostering a deeper understanding.
- Foster intergenerational engagement: Incorporate elder abuse awareness into school and community service programs, fostering empathy and responsibility among community members of all ages.
- Organize community events: Bring focus to elder abuse with “Elder Abuse Awareness Week.” Plan activities, offer educational materials, and facilitate discussions to engage the public. Highlight the impact of elder abuse in your community and provide local resources for older survivors.
- Promote legal protections: Advocate for stronger laws and policies protecting older adults and raise awareness about existing legal resources and protections for victims.
- Host community workshops: Hold seminars and training sessions for caregivers, healthcare professionals, and local organizations to recognize and respond to elder abuse.
- Collaborate with local agencies and community leaders: Partner with local government, law enforcement, faith communities, and nonprofits to provide outreach and distribute informational materials and resources about warning signs of elder abuse.
- Create a strategic plan: Identify the people who tend to be at the center of the community. Engage these natural leaders in strategic planning for responding to cases of elder abuse.
- Self-reflect: Examine your own attitude towards growing older and how you feel about aging. Your perceptions of older adults may shape how you work with them or policy decisions you may make.
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, neglect, or exploitation, visit the Department of Justice’s webpage to find resources in your state.
To talk to someone confidentially for support and information on domestic violence in later life, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or TTY 1-800-787-3224. To find your local sexual abuse victim service program, call the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network at 1-800-656-4673 (HOPE). If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
Looking for more information about elder abuse? Head over to NCALL’s website where you’ll find info sheets, toolkits, videos, and more. Reach out to our team at ncall@ncall.us with your questions.
This project is supported by Grant No. 15JOVW-23-GK-05142-MUMU awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this website are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.
[i] The Elder Justice Roadmap: A Stakeholder Initiative to Respond to an Emerging Health, Justice, Financial and Social Crisis, U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014.
[ii] The U.S. Has Reached the Peak of Peak 65® It’s Time to Apply Retirement Readiness Lessons from the Boomer Experience – Protected Income
[iii] Lifespan of Greater Rochester, Inc., Weill Cornell Medical Center of Cornell University, & New York City Department for the Aging. (2011). Under the radar: New York State Elder Abuse Prevalence Study. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/dfta/downloads/pdf/reports/UndertheRadar2011.pdf