A distraught US citizen is urging Jamaican legislators to protect the elderly from abuse, claiming that her 85-year-old mother has been suffering from neglect on the island for months, with law enforcement unable to intervene.

The woman claims that her mother, who is a US citizen, is living with her other daughter, who has reportedly refused to provide adequate care.

“She’s lost a lot of weight, she’s very weak and she cannot stand up, and that, to me, is saying that she has not been fed. She’s not getting the right nutrients,” she told the Jamaica Observer, adding that when her mother came to Jamaica last December she was in good health.

She further claimed that her sister has refused, on many occasions, to take their mother, who suffers from heart and other medical problems, to hospital.

“I have to get a lawyer before I can even try to get her out of the house because the immigration is saying it is the police, [and] the police say they can’t do anything. There is nothing to protect our elderly. This could never happen in the [United] States. There are so many avenues you can take in the States to get the elderly out of danger,” she said.

When contacted by the Sunday Observer the police said they have received multiple reports about the situation to which they have consistently responded, but their hands are tied.

“The police do not have any jurisdiction to go take the mother and give to anyone because she is an adult. We spoke to the mother, and the mother doesn’t want to go with the sister [who] is claiming that the mother is being neglected,” the police officer told the Sunday Observer.

He added that police, in their investigations, did not see any clear sign of abuse and could not intervene because the mother has refused to press charges, which makes the matter a civil case.

But the US citizen, voicing her frustration, is demanding action from the Government to enact legislation targeted towards the protection of the elderly from all forms of abuse.

“They telling you to see a lawyer, but seeing a lawyer could take days. There is nothing in place to protect our elderly from their children, from people that abuse them,” she said.

“I don’t know what to do. I sent the prime minister a message over
Facebook. I don’t know. I’m just exploring my options to see how can I get my mom out of her custody but I don’t know what to do,” she added.

A revised National Policy for Senior Citizens was tabled in Parliament in October 2021 as part of efforts to create the enabling of supportive environments for healthy, active and productive ageing of all citizens.

However, executive director of National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC) Cassandra Morrison said that there is no specific law or legislation that directly addresses elder abuse in Jamaica.

“The protection against abuse for senior citizens is provided generally, as with other members of the population, under provisions such as the Offences against the Person Act, the Sexual Abuse Act, and those other pieces of legislation for which a senior citizen would have to bring a case against the abuser,” Morrison told the Sunday Observer.

“For some time the ministry has been looking at proposing legislation to address these matters. And I know that it is a priority of the ministry, and certainly social protection is a priority of the Government, so I am aware that it is a matter that is being seriously contemplated for advancement by the ministry,” Morrison said.

However, she said she has not received any updates on efforts to pass the legislation.

Morrison said NCSC has received multiple reports of seniors being abused by family members or caregivers. However, they often refuse to press charges.

“The senior would have to be the person to say ‘Yes, you hit me’ — and we have a challenge with that because much of the cases of elder abuse… the alleged abusers are family members, and ,for the most part, senior citizens don’t often want to report their family members or bring cases against their family members,” said the executive director.

“If [they] say no, even though you might observe signs that could mean so, if the senior says: ‘No, it is not [abuse]’ or ‘I just fell’, then there is very little that we or the police can do,” she said.

“Sometimes an option is not readily available. We do not have shelters for victims of elder abuse so there’s not always the option of removing the abuser from the home or even removing the senior from the home and so, because an immediate solution may not be evident, you find sometimes that that is not the case,” Morrison said.

However, she said NCSC has applied other methods to help seniors where there have been reports that they are allegedly being abused.

“Where the report is made to us, or we become aware of the incidents, generally we investigate. Our social workers will investigate and try to work with the senior and the family to see how the matter can be addressed, including the relevant agencies which might include the police or otherwise. In cases of neglect it might be other government agencies,” she said.

Morrison also urged anyone who suspects that a senior citizen is being abused to report the matter to the police or NCSC so they can see how best they can intervene.