Elderly Population and the Advocate’s Role In human services, an advocate is someone who supports their client in their decisions regarding life and gives the client a voice to make a change. Very often when dealing with the elderly population, the problem of neglect and elder abuse arises. These wrongdoings are frequently the actions of the people closest to the victim including family members (Adult Children and Spouses) and caregivers.
Human Service Advocates
Human service professionals work with and are advocates for the elderly population for various reasons because the population is enlarging rapidly. Advocates are supposed to work hand in hand with their clients and spread awareness regarding elder abuse and neglect. The problem arises when advocates do not protect or advise their clients from abuse, neglect, and discrimination. If neglect is suspected, the human service professional (advocate) is obligated to report any signs but that sometimes does not happen because the professional themselves are the culprits. For instance, a human service professional may work in an adult daycare facility where elderly adults go during the day while their main caregivers are working. While there the elderly client may endure physical and verbal abuse from the professionals that work at the facility. This is way too common and if the people who are supposed to be advocates for their elderly clients are actually the people who are abusing them, then the clients are not properly being cared for.
If I Were an Advocate Not all advocates are immoral, in fact the majority of advocates in the human services field engage in advocacy because of their personal values, wanting to advance causes that they support (Barsky, Chapter 6, 2007). If I were and advocate for the elderly population, I would provide awareness for elderly abuse and neglect and I would put forth every effort into decreasing the number of cases of elderly abuse and neglect. Many elderly people cannot afford their medications or their cost of living. I would step in and not just inform my elderly clients of the various programs that can help them, but I would also assist them in every step of each process to ensure that they receive the services that are pertinent to their problems. My assistance will cut down on age discrimination as well because I will not leave my clients to find and complete the process for their assistance alone. Being an advocate for the elderly population includes giving them a voice to be heard and not silenced.
I truly care about this population because they are the individuals who paved the way for me and made life easier because they cared for the future generations. Knowing that, I cannot sit idly by and watch people commit wrongdoings toward the elderly population. Although human service professionals are obligated to report all signs of abuse and neglect, many of the cases are not reported, I would like to bring awareness to these problems by hosting community campaign events because I believe that people do not know the seriousness of the issue.

Reference
Barsky, A.E. (2007). Conflict Resolution for the Helping Professions (2nd ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection.