Safeguarding Adults Awareness FAQs

What is safeguarding of vulnerable adults?

Safeguarding adults is about reducing or, ideally, preventing the risk of significant harm from abuse and exploitation, and simultaneously supporting people to take control of their own lives by making informed choices.

What different kinds of abuse are there?

There is an assumption that abuse is physical in nature. The truth is that it can be caused by a number of ways. Different kinds of abuse include:

• Physical Abuse: Any intentional use of physical force with the intent to control a partner through fear or injury
• Emotional/Verbal Abuse: An attempt to control a partner through the manipulation of their self-esteem, sense of personal security, relationships with others, and/or their perception of reality. Often it results in the victim feeling worthless and responsible for the abuse
• Sexual Abuse: Any behaviours that impact a person's ability to control their sexual activity or the circumstances in which sexual activity occurs
• Digital Abuse: This is a form of emotional/verbal abuse that uses technology or social media to intimidate, harass, bully, stalk or threaten a current or ex-partner
• Financial Abuse: The use of finances or access to finances to control a partner. It's one of the powerful forms of abuse, and a common method of entrapping a partner in the relationship. It's often given as the reason that victims of the abuser stayed in or returned to an abusive relationship