Appoint Us Services take the Safeguarding and Protection of Vulnerable Adults and Children extremely seriously.

We have staff trained to Level Three in Adult Safeguarding and all of our staff will be trained to a minimum of Level One. One of our Directors has 10 years’ experience of working with Vulnerable Children.

Many adults, because of illness or disability, could be unable to protect themselves from abuse. Vulnerable adults may be older people, people with learning or physical disabilities, people with mental health issues or those with a short or long-term illness. (Government Guidance No Secrets 2000 gives definition.)

What is abuse?

Abuse can be defined in many ways, however the terms most commonly used are:

• Discrimination — such as unfair treatment because of gender, race, culture, background, age, disability, sexuality or illness;
• Emotional and Psychological — such as threats or humiliation, ignoring, taunting;
• Institutional — such as enforced mealtimes or bedtimes, not being given your own clothes to wear, not being able to choose the meal you eat;
• Neglect — such as ignoring, depriving of food, refusing support with medication, denying access to medical treatment;
• Physical — such as hitting, punching, slapping;
• Sexual — such as rape and other intimate contact without consent;
• Verbal — such as shouting, swearing;
• Financial — theft of money, fraud, persuading an adult at risk to enter into a financial agreement which is to their detriment.

Who abuses and where does it happen?

Abuse happens in situations where one person in a relationship has more power than the other. In adult abuse cases this could be a vulnerable adult’s paid or unpaid carer, a friend or a relative, in fact almost anyone. 4% of all over 65s who live in private households are mistreated or abused by people who should care about them. In Warwickshire this represents about 3,500 adults being the subject of abuse.

What can you do?

If you or someone you know is suffering abuse and they are in immediate risk of danger dial 999 and report the incident to the Police. If there is no immediate risk, you can contact your Local Authority Safeguarding Team directly or talk to one of our staff.