Finding a Caring Caregiver

If an elderly loved one needs at-home care, how do you select a professional caregiver? With careful screening of the person or agency before making your choice.

Tragically, some caregivers physically or verbally abuse their patients — or simply neglect them. And financial exploitation, which leaves no visible marks, can be just as devastating.

Unfortunately, one does not need to look far for examples:

• A Georgia homecare nurse caught on an ATM camera using her elderly patient's debit card, was indicted on charges of elder abuse and financial transaction card fraud for swiping more than $7,500 from the 86-year-old victim, $2 to $300 at a time.
• In Illinois, a hospital nursing assistant befriended her 89-year-old dementia patient, and upon his discharge became his round-the-clock caregiver. Prosecutors say she obtained a power-of-attorney, allowing her to steal over $350,000 from his estate which she used to buy a new Mercedes, remodel her home, and enrich herself and her family. The caregiver was held on $350,000 bail and faces up to 15 years in prison on charges of felony financial exploitation of a senior.

Lack of caregiver screening, training, and experience accounts for many cases of elder abuse. As the Huffington Post reports, the Journal of American Geriatrics Society published a study finding that, nationwide, many caregivers are dangerously unqualified because agencies fail to conduct background checks, drug testing, or to require experience or training of new hires. Researchers conducting the study surveyed 180 agencies, but found that only 55 percent conducted federal background checks, and one-third administered drug tests.

The article includes these tips for choosing a caregiver:

• Use a checklist to review the candidate or agency (click here and here for checklists).
• Set clear expectations before interviewing candidates, and create a daily activity timeline.
• Involve the senior in the interview.
• Assess the caregiver's degree of specialty and training.
• Check references and conduct an independent background check.

Principal Sentenced to Teach

In the second "failure to report" case in two decades brought by Santa Clara County prosecutors, O.B. Whaley Elementary School's former principal, Lyn Vijayendran, was convicted of failing to report suspected sexual abuse of a student by one of her teachers.

The judge told Vijayendran "you made a very bad judgment that day," then sentenced her to pay $602 in criminal fines, two years of probation, and 100 hours of community service, which will include helping teach other school officials about their legal duty to report suspected child abuse.

The jury forewoman said Vijayendran "dropped the ball." Another juror said the principal "stuck her head in the sand rather than pull the alarm. I think she didn't want this ugly thing to be true."

The eight-year-old girl's mother told Vijayendran that second-grade teacher Craig Chandler had acted "strangely" with her daughter, and showed the principal a suspicious stain on her daughter's jacket.  Vijayendran then interviewed the girl who provided vivid details of her strange encounter with Mr. Chandler.

Vijayendran testified that Mr. Chandler "appeared forthright" when he told her that blindfolding a second-grade girl, telling her to lie on the floor, and putting a salty liquid in her mouth while they were alone in the classroom was part of a lesson plan about Helen Keller.

Vijayendran's decision to conduct her own investigation, instead of reporting the incident to authorities as the law requires of mandatory reporters, resulted in her criminal conviction and allowed Mr. Chandler to molest another student a few months later.

Under California law, school districts are required to train their educators how to recognize and report suspected child abuse. While the law provides an exception — a school district may simply write a letter explaining why training was not provided — jurors said the Evergreen School District shared some responsibility in this case.

"I think there were comments made that over a 20-year period, that people from the teachers all the way up to the principals all the way up to HR that they've received no training on mandatory reporting," said juror Kathy Ericksen. Juror Susan LaGassa agreed, "Educators need to know that this is unacceptable."

"The bigger picture," said prosecutor Alison Filo, "is we want mandated reporters to understand to always err on the side of caution and report, never investigate."

Suspicious Minds

What do the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, and Penn State University have in common with the Horace Mann School in New York City and Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles?  They all had trusted members of their organizations who were involved in child sex abuse scandals.

Now, "The BBC's reputation is on the line," says Chris Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust.  Police are describing disc jockey and BBC television host Jimmy Savile (who died last year at age 84) as "one of the worst sex offenders in recent history." Given recent history, that's a pretty big claim.

This latest BBC scandal began when a television documentary aired in October in which several women claimed that they were sexually abused by Savile when they were in their early teens. Hundreds of potential victims have since come forward with similar claims.

In connection with the Savile investigation, police arrested musician and convicted sex offender Gary Glitter (known for his shiny jumpsuits and whose real name is Paul Gadd).  Glitter served a U.K. prison term in 1999 for possession of child pornography. After moving to Vietnam, he was convicted of child abuse in 2006 and deported back to Britain in 2008. Glitter is best known for the crowd-pleasing hit "Rock & Roll (Part 2)" which, in 2006, the National Football League advised teams not to use at games.

Questions are now being raised about whether the BBC was involved in a cover-up, and whether Savile was at the center of a broader pedophile ring. All of this leaves some of us wondering, who can you trust?

"As a society, we've just got to somehow get over this notion that some men, some women, some institutions, are 100 percent pristine and trustworthy," said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "We've got to look at actual behavior, not reputation."

Doctor Near-Death

Pediatrician Melvin Morse and his wife were arrested this week at their home in Georgetown, Delaware, on charges of child endangerment.

According to police, Dr. Morse used waterboarding – a simulated drowning technique typically considered to be torture – to punish his 11-year-old daughter four times over the last two years while the girl's mother looked on and did not try to stop it.

Dr. Morse's excessive discipline came to light when the girl ran to a neighbor's house after her father dragged her by the ankles over a gravel driveway because she wouldn't get out of the car for reasons unknown.  When a concerned citizen called police, the girl was questioned by authorities and told them that her father had also used waterboarding to discipline her.

Dr. Morse heads the Institute for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, and has appeared on "Oprah," "Good Morning America," and "Larry King Live." He has written about his research on near-death experiences, particularly those involving children.

ABCs of Elder Abuse

It started with Rodney Chapman mowing Gwendolyn Swank's lawn and doing handyman jobs around her mobile home. They lived across the street from each other in a mobile home park in Pemaquid, Maine, which has the oldest median age in the country. Chapman became Gwendolyn Swank's best friend and worst enemy.

Gwendolyn worked her whole life as a bookkeeper and accumulated over $300,000 in assets. Six years after Chapman befriended her, the balance in Swank's retirement nest egg was 37 cents. On June 12th, 85-year-old Gwendolyn was awarded $1.3 million against Chapman who is serving a five-year sentence for theft and has no ability to pay the judgment.

According to Detective Robert McFetridge who specializes in elder abuse cases, this case followed the ABCs of how to steal money from an elderly person, "A, befriend them. B, slowly start making them dependent on you. C, isolate them from other people. D, take everything they own."

After befriending her, Chapman convinced Gwendolyn to invest in an auto repair and recovery business which she's not sure ever existed. Then Chapman learned that Gwendolyn was scared about illegal drug activity in the area so he fed her fear by pounding on her trailer at night, telling her to stay inside, took her phone away, and restricted visitors and the use of her car, telling her it was for her own safety.

McFetridge investigated the case and said, "In my opinion, it's just as serious as if he had beaten her within an inch of her life … By the time we intervened, she was down to living on peanut butter and rice cakes. She was really a prisoner in her own home."

Tips for protecting yourself against elder abuse:

• Stay socially active and engaged
• Do not let anyone rush or pressure you into signing a document, purchasing something, or giving away your money or property
• Build relationships with the professionals who advise you or handle your money
• Avoid joint accounts
• Powers of attorney are useful and important tools, but can be misused

Click here for a directory of state helplines and elder abuse prevention resources.

Training Abuse

There is a general reluctance to confront the issue of when parents' religious practices become child abuse until a shocking case forces us to face the unresolved tension between the rights of religious freedom and society's duty to reduce child suffering.

Two such cases involve a controversial parenting book — To Train Up a Child, by Michael and Debi Pearl — which has turned up in "a bevy of child abuse cases." This child-training manual quotes biblical passages to support the authors' belief that parents must use a "Rod of Reproof" to punish children because "Any spanking, to effectively reinforce instruction, must cause pain." The book also teaches that "fasting is good training" for picky eaters.

A so-called "Biblical Rod" (plumbing supply tubes in this case) caused the death of 7-year-old Lydia and nearly killed her 11-year-old sister. Pearls' book is claimed to have reinforced Lydia's adoptive parents' belief that God wanted them to regularly beat their children. Lydia's adoptive parents pled guilty to murder and are serving 22- and 12-year prison sentences.

A copy of To Train Up a Child was also found in the adoptive home of a 13-year-old Ethiopian child, Hana, and her 10-year-old brother. Police found Hana unconscious in a barn and she later died of hypothermia after being forced to sleep outside when the temperature dropped to around 40°. Hana was starved for days and 30 pounds underweight when she died.

Hana's parents are now charged with homicide by abuse for her death and the first-degree assault of her brother. The couple has pled not guilty to the charges.

Heartbreaking stories like these prompted Janet Heimlich to take on this topic in her book Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment, in which she explores solutions to this problem such as educating communities about child abuse and neglect.