[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 171 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 171

   Designating June 15, 2013, as ``World Elder Abuse Awareness Day''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 13, 2013

Mr. Blumenthal (for himself, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Nelson) submitted the 
        following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Designating June 15, 2013, as ``World Elder Abuse Awareness Day''.

Whereas Federal Government estimates show that more than 1 in 10 persons over 
        age 60, or 6,000,000 individuals, are victims of elder abuse each year;
Whereas the vast majority of the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of older 
        adults in the United States goes unidentified and unreported;
Whereas only 1 in 44 cases of financial abuse of older adults is reported;
Whereas at least $2,900,000,000 is taken from older adults each year due to 
        financial abuse and exploitation;
Whereas elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation have no boundaries and cross all 
        racial, social, class, gender, and geographic lines;
Whereas older adults who are abused are 3 times more likely to die earlier than 
        older adults of the same age who are not abused;
Whereas, although all 50 States have laws against elder abuse, incidents of 
        elder abuse have increased by 150 percent over the last 10 years;
Whereas public awareness has the potential to increase the identification and 
        reporting of elder abuse by the public, professionals, and victims, and 
        can act as a catalyst to promote issue-based education and long-term 
        prevention; and
Whereas private individuals and public agencies must work together on the 
        Federal, State, and local levels to combat increasing occurrences of 
        abuse, neglect, and exploitation crime and violence against vulnerable 
        older adults and vulnerable adults, particularly in light of limited 
        resources for vital protective services: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) designates June 15, 2013 as ``World Elder Abuse 
        Awareness Day'';
            (2) recognizes judges, lawyers, adult protective services 
        professionals, law enforcement officers, social workers, health 
        care providers, victims' advocates, and other professionals and 
        agencies for their efforts to advance awareness of elder abuse; 
        and
            (3) encourages members of the public and professionals who 
        work with older adults to act as catalysts to promote awareness 
        and long-term prevention of elder abuse by reaching out to 
        local adult protective services agencies and by learning to 
        recognize, detect, report, and respond to elder abuse.
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