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Case Study of an Intervention

Author's Name Withheld Upon Request

When does intervention start?

Is it when other members of the family realize there is abuse being inflicted?

When a person is hospitalized?

The case which I am presenting will make you realize how important it is for people to pursue some method of intervention, as well as the need for education of people in regard to abuse.

My person is a mid-eighty senior who has been kidnapped, as well as has had money stolen by her ex-daughter-in-law and grandchildren. As the story unfolds it is hard to comprehend how it went as far as it did.

It all started when the senior was encouraged to sell her home and move to a nursing home - money from the sale of the home went into a joint account with her ex-daughter-in-law who subsequently withdrew it and distributed it between her children (the grandchildren of the senior).

As time went by the grandchildren and daughter-in-law decided that the cost of the private nursing home was too expensive and grandma should be moved to a less expensive place.

They literally lifted grandma from the nursing home and held her in a car until her things had been moved from the nursing home to an apartment they had rented for five months until subsidized housing became available. Which, miraculously, became available exactly four months later.

By this time Continuing Care had become aware of this situation and alerted the Abuse team in the community; we immediately undertook the following interventions.

1.  Visited the senior - we discussed the situation and suggested that we cannot permit a criminal offense to happen without some retribution. The grandparent was reluctant to prosecute the grandchildren.

2.  Confirmed the story with the son - who was very upset - he had already advised the police, who did nothing as the senior would not prosecute - he was willing to work with us in helping his parent when we got the ball rolling.

3.  Confirmed with the nursing home that this senior had been kidnapped - the manager did nothing about this, but said that he "had a lot of background on what has happened and would be willing to repeat his story."

4.  The senior was refusing to move into subsidized housing as there should be money to pay for any expenses incurred.

5.  The senior was encouraged to seek legal advice as we cannot let this happen without some action taken.

6.  We spoke with the public trustee - they were not prepared to become involved as the senior is of sound mind.

7.  Went to the Legal Assistance in the community - a worker has been to visit the senior and is proceeding to have legal action taken in regard to the finances being illegally obtained.

8.  The son now has Power of Attorney for his parent and is well aware of how far he can act on her behalf.

9.  The Abuse team is still involved as support to the senior - making sure that the wishes and rights of the senior are being taken care of.

In conclusion, what bothers me about this situation is that the police department felt they could do nothing. Our justice system certainly does not act to protect the victim. Also, I wonder - Why did the manager not do something? - As we only have the senior's version, the whole story may never be known. However, because of our community training on abuse we were able to take some action to help a Senior in distress.