Reports of elder abuse are rising sharply in Mendocino County, with self-neglect and financial scams emerging as major concerns, according to Jesse Vanvoorhis, deputy director of Adult and Aging Services at Mendocino County's Department of Social Services.
"Five years ago we were averaging 1,000 reports a year. Now we're up over 1,700 in the last 12-month period," Vanvoorhis said.
Vanvoorhis, who has worked in social services for 19 years and spent the last six years directly involved with Adult Protective Services, said the majority of reports now involve self-neglect. Cases of self-neglect rose from 674 in 2020 to 914 last year — an increase of 36%.
“The difference between neglect and self-neglect is: self-neglect is not being able to pay your bills, not having an adequate supply of food, not having adequate caregiving or devices to help you ambulate,” he said. “Neglect is when there is a caregiver and the caregiver isn't fulfilling their duties to care for the individual. That’s the difference.”
In addition to self-neglect, the county is seeing rising cases of financial and psychological abuse. “Psychological abuse would be like controlling behaviors,” Vanvoorhis said.
Several factors are driving the increase, he said. Chief among them is the aging of the population, a trend state officials often call a “silver tsunami.”
“One contributing factor is the population of elderly individuals in the county and in the state is growing,” he said. “The baby boomer generation is aging out, now becoming retirement age.”
A change in state law also expanded the scope of elder abuse reporting by lowering the age threshold from 65 to 60. “Now we're also accepting reports for people who are younger, and I think those things have contributed to our numbers,” Vanvoorhis said.
Another key factor is the prevalence of phone and internet scams targeting older adults. “That's something that's really changed,” he said. “Scams are just so common nowadays.”
Looking ahead, Vanvoorhis said one of the county’s most urgent needs is an increase in affordable senior housing.
“There’s long wait lists for the available senior housing communities,” he said. “There are individuals who would like to find housing, who may have a voucher to get subsidized housing, but they can't find an available unit. So I think availability of housing is a big issue.”
