Master's thesis investigates the functioning of various professional services that deal with cases of violence against the elderly in the Kočevje-Ribnica area. The first serious discussion of the issue took place in the UK in 1975, when the phenomenon was first recognized as a social and political problem. Today, almost 50 years later, there is still a gap between the actual prevalence of violence against the elderly, the willingness to talk about it and society's perception of this type of violence. And there is no less of it than in the past. In the first part, I used a comparative and descriptive research method, and in the empirical one qualitative research, as I was more interested in the content, and with it more detailed data on the topic being researched, in relation to both professional and lay work. In the empirical part, I present the results of the research, obtained through a semi-structured interview, in which professionals from different fields collaborated, as well as one NGO and a political decision-maker, a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, because I was interested in the political aspect of thinking about the research topic. I would have found the research incomplete without talking to the survivor, and the insight into her life and thinking added an extra dimension to my work. I have found that most violence cases are encountered by the social workers and the police. All the types of abuse mentioned in the literature are present among residents of the research area, but sexual abuse, which is apparently still taboo; it is not mentioned by any of the interviewers. According to the findings, reporting of violence is taboo as well. People fear that reporting violence will make it worse, but practice shows the opposite: the more people report it, the less it happens. To do this in the gratest possible numbers, they need to be empowered and knowledgeable; not only them, but also professionals, political decision-makers, children, and above all, the perpetrators. Based on the results, I have finally formulated proposals that can serve as a starting point for changes and improvements that will contribute to better quality of professional services and better quality of life for old people. Above all, I wanted to lift the veil that still keeps violenec against the elderly a scret. And as long as it remains a mistery, the agent has the power to cause it. That is why it is important that the message at the message that violence is not acceptable gets through to the perpetrator from all of us.
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