Elder Abuse Service

What is elder abuse?

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), elder abuse is: "a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person”.

Elder abuse most commonly takes the form of psychological abuse, followed by neglect, financial abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse.

Who we help

To be eligible for this service clients must:

be 65 years or older, or 50 or over for our Aboriginal clients;
reside on the Central Coast or in the Lower Hunter region (including Newcastle);
be experiencing or at risk of elder abuse; and
consent to being referred to our service.

What we do

We can help with:

Housing and granny flat matters
Centrelink debts
Family breakdown
Informal loans
AVOs
Guardianship and Powers of Attorney*
Physical and sexual abuse
Financial abuse
Psychological abuse (bullying, harassment, isolation and neglect)

*The EAS does not assist clients with:

drafting and executing wills, Powers of Attorney, Enduring Guardians or Advanced Care Directives.

Community Legal Education

The EAS is committed to raising awareness of elder abuse in our communities.

Our staff are available to deliver elder abuse training sessions to community members, community workers, health workers and staff who work with older community members.

To organise an elder abuse training session, please email our service at: elderservice@legalaid.nsw.gov.au

Other elder abuse resources delivered by our service include: