Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Protecting the elderly and the disabled population from being subjected to abuse and neglect is one of the new measures submitted by Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga to the Fono for review and approval.

In an Aug. 6th cover letter to Fono leaders, the governor submitted the proposed Elderly and Disabled Adults Neglect, Abuse and Exploitation Prevent Act. “It is designed to help protect our elderly and disabled adults,” Lolo explained.

According to the governor, the “abuse, neglect and exploitation of the elderly and disabled adults is a growing problem” in the United States and the vast majority of cases go unreported.

“Currently there are no laws in American Samoa that are specifically designed to protect these highly vulnerable groups,” said Lolo, noting that this proposed law provides protection for older adults who are exploited to the tune of $2.9 billion a year.

It is also designed to protect disabled adults who are 1.5 times more likely to be victim of violence than those without a disability. “Because of the unique susceptibility of these groups, unique tailored laws must be enacted to protect them,” the governor noted.

The proposal is now been put in bill format for introduction in both the Senate and House.

In his State of the Territory Comprehensive Report submitted to the Fono early this year, the governor noted the Administration’s move for advocating and protecting senior citizen rights, saying that the Administration has  taken further steps to improve the protection and rights of all Senior Citizens in American Samoa through proposed legislation to be submitted to the Fono for approval.

He then disclosed that the Territorial Administration on Aging (TAOA) is now enrolled in the federal National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System (NAMRS) database. “Its inclusion in the database will ensure American Samoa has complete access to all available resources to prevent neglect and abuse among Senior Citizens in the Territory,” the governor explained.

NAMRS is the first comprehensive, national reporting system for adult protective services (APS) programs, according to the website of the US Administration for Community Living (ACL), which oversees the database, that collects quantitative and qualitative data on APS practices and policies, and the outcomes of investigations into the maltreatment of older adults and adults with disabilities.

ACL is a bureau of the US Department of Human and Social Service and NAMRS is fairly new, test piloted in 2013 and the first national report, released in May this year, covers fiscal year 2016. (More information: www.acl.gov)

Samoa News notes that among the major issues surrounding the exploitation of the elderly population in the US are get-rich quick fraudulent schemes, where scammers target elders, in various forms such as telemarketing promising big returns, according to national news reports based on data and reporting from federal agencies.

In American Samoa, there are no statistics on elderly abuse.