Safeguarding & Abuse – Linley James Solicitors

Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults

Every adult is entitled to be autonomous and have their choices respected. They should not be forced or coerced into doing things against their will. They should be free to live their life from fear or anxiety and be treated with dignity.

Abuse may arise from a deliberate act or series of acts, an omission, a failure to provide something or neglect. It may be through no fault of the attorney, deputy or carer, but as a result of an unscrupulous person, an inappropriate assessment of needs or a lack of understanding about making decisions for them.

Many adults come to rely on others owing to their age, disability or illness to daily help them.

Risks to vulnerable adults come from many sources; their own home, hospitals, care homes, day care or other people’s homes. Risk can arise from their carers, people engaged to manage their finances or make decisions for them, from relatives and friends or neighbours, from people who have recently come into their life and got to know them, another resident or service user, or someone providing any kind of service to the vulnerable adult.

Safeguarding and Abuse Management

Linley James Solicitors has a dedicated team of lawyers with specialist knowledge and expertise to challenge abuse and safeguarding concerns.

Past cases include:

Neglect
Financial abuse
Personal injury
Abduction
Theft and fraud
Mistreatment
Medication abuse
Sexual abuse
Assault
Restraint
Abuse of a position of trust
Breach of consent

Most cases involve initial assessments of the vulnerable adult to establish a baseline of what care needs they have. They are the most important person in the equation and they do need protecting. We would also examine the nature and extent of the abuse and how long the abuse has been happening. In particular what impact the abuse has had on the vulnerable adult and how has this impacted on other people. We would consider what was the intent of the abuser, was it deliberate, unintentional or part of a wider scheme. How often did the abuse arise and in what settings. We will also consider was there a duty of care owed to the vulnerable adult by someone who should have been monitoring the vulnerable adult.