NCEA Blog

The NCEA Blog is updated regularly with posts from contributing authors and new publications from the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA). If you have ideas for future blog post to share with us, reach out to us via the Contact Us page.

Blogs

March 20, 2023
A View of Elder Justice in Guam

The Guam Elder Justice Center – Legal Assistance Program (EJC) began providing legal assistance services to the island’s Manamko’ (older adults) in March 2021 as a limited term pilot program. Created in partnership between the Department of Public Health and Social Services Division of Senior Citizens, the Guam State Office on Aging, and the Public Defender Service Corporation, the EJC is funded by Title III-B of the Older Americans Act of 1965 for older adults sixty years of age and older. The program has received additional funding under the American Rescue Plan to expand its services to older adults between the ages of 55 and 59.

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March 1, 2023
Advance Care Planning to Prevent Elder Abuse

Many people have heard of advance care planning or thought of doing it sometime, but they think they are too young, they don’t have time right now, or they need to think about it some more to know what they want to put into it. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people became more aware of how fragile life is and how quickly things could change.

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February 1, 2023
Introducing the New Bill of Rights for Adults with a Guardian

No nationally recognized statement of rights for adults with a guardian exists in the U.S. A new model Bill of Rights has been created to fill that void. A model Bill of Rights is needed to move to consistent recognition that adults with a guardian have fundamental rights that should be honored and respected. Adults with a guardian should not have their rights abused by the guardianship process that is intended to protect them.

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January 19, 2023
Where Faith and Safety Meet: Partnering with Faith Communities to Increase Elder Justice

I have been a faith leader for many years, so I remember with fondness congregations from Arizona and New Mexico to New Jersey and Massachusetts. In all these places, I have seen faith communities celebrate and revere older adults, and with good reason: older adults are leaders, they embody the congregation’s history and resilience, and they teach and inspire the next generation.

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December 15, 2022
Language that Leaves a Lasting Impression

Many of us routinely track our activities or think about doing so. We count our steps (the average person takes 3000 to 4000 steps a day), gauge our food consumption (on average about 3600 calories a day, though between 1600 and 3000 are recommended), and monitor our expenses (though 61% of U.S. adults don't even have a budget.) But the activity that we most commonly engage in - speaking - is often unchecked.

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November 10 2022
Share Your Elder Justice Story

Real-life stories are effective tools to communicate the impact of elder justice programs. They put a face to the issues of elder abuse, neglect and fraud and humanize what can seem like a very abstract and distant issue to many people, including policymakers who are responsible for laws, regulations and funding to combat elder abuse.

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October 25 2022
Marketing Could Mislead Older Adults During Medicare Open Enrollment

During Medicare’s Annual Election Period, commonly known as Medicare Open Enrollment Period (OEP), which takes place October 15 through December 7 each year, Medicare beneficiaries can choose the Medicare plans that are best for them. Beneficiaries in Original Medicare can compare and change prescription drug plans (Part D) and Medigap plans. They can also decide if, instead of Original Medicare, they would prefer to sign up for a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan (Part C).

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October 11 2022
October is Residents' Rights Month

October is Residents’ Rights Month. This is a time to focus on the fact that individuals residing in long-term care facilities have rights – rights afforded to all human beings living in the United States, along with the rights afforded all residents of long-term care facilities, such as to have choice and control over their daily lives, reasonable accommodation of needs and preferences, the ability to choose activities, schedules, health care and providers consistent with their interests, goals, assessment, and plan of care; and rights intended to protect them from harm, such as the right to be free from abuse, neglect, exploitation, and misappropriation of property.

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September 12 2022
New School of Thought for Elder Justice

When I think of the end of summer, I think of back-to-school advertisements that used to pull my stomach into knots as a kid. “Oh no, not another year of syllabi,” I would groan to myself. Now I feel a sense of relief that it is not me going back-to-school when I see billboards of kids with the coolest new backpack and matching stationery. In reality, I suppose school never really ended for us all as we age, it just looks different now. Everyday working in the field of elder justice has been a new learning experience. I have gotten to learn and work with the most incredible pioneers in this field.

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August 29 2022
Person Centered Care of Elder Abuse

have heard countless stories of elder abuse over the last 15 years. Initially, as a multidisciplinary team (MDT) facilitator, and later as a student observing MDTs for my doctoral research. Most cases entailed tension inherent when an adult is susceptible to the ongoing risk of harm—from unknown predators, from family or friends taking advantage, or even from their own decisions—and the challenge of balancing protection with autonomy. Although nearly a quarter of MDT members consider client preferences as their top personal priority, protection is the top priority of most MDTs and participating agencies. MDTs may integrate the older adult’s stated preferences into case review recommendations, but protection trumps their preferences, and it is extremely rare that a team will invite the individuals whose lives they are discussing to participate.

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July 13 2022
The Aging Population: Isolation and the Risks of Fraud and Abuse

The pandemic escalated fraud concerns, abuse challenges, and social isolation for everyone., However, it especially brought to light the isolation concerns that many older adults have always faced. A person who is isolated may be home, by the phone, waiting for someone to call, or may be online, trying to connect with anyone willing to talk. Scammers can use an individual’s social isolation as an opportunity to steal financial, medical, and personal information. Numerous recent reports include details of fraudsters calling others using spoofed phone numbers, knocking on doors unsolicited, and even prowling on social media in an attempt to con those with whom they interact.

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June 8 2022
I Wear Purple Because....

This year, as I was reviewing all the amazing tools and tips the NCEA team has developed to build awareness concerning World Elder Abuse Awareness Day WEAAD, I thought of our new #Purple Wednesday Campaign. The premise of the campaign is to wear purple on Wednesdays and submit a picture of yourself holding a placard that says "I wear purple because..." you than fill in the blank, take a photo of yourself holding the placard and submit to NCEA. I thought to myself, "Does this really matter, does this really do anything?"

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June 6, 2022
Medicare Fraud Prevention Week Teaches Everyone How to Prevent Fraud

Medicare Fraud Prevention Week focuses on the actions everyone can take to prevent Medicare fraud, errors, and abuse. June 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) program. To commemorate this event, the SMP is creating a national week focused on Medicare fraud prevention.

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June 2, 2022
Adult Protective Services in Action: A WEAAD Spotlight

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD), on June 15th, is a time for communities around the world to promote a better understanding of abuse and neglect of older people by raising awareness of the cultural, social, economic, and demographic processes affecting elder abuse and neglect. WEAAD is a call-to-action for society’s individuals, organizations, and communities to educate each other on how to identify, address and prevent abuse so we can all do our part to support everyone as we age.

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May 12, 2022
Hope and Help

Why would a 17-year-old have a great interest in the prevention of elder abuse? In this blog, I would like to describe my message and mission for this year’s World Elder Abuse Awareness Day campaign from the point of view of the up-and-coming generation. The reason I am writing today is not only to tell my story, but to also share my solution and encourage other people of my generation to join me.

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April 20, 2022
The Next Generation of Elder Justice Advocates

Preventing elder abuse and building strong supports for older adults of today and tomorrow necessitates an intergenerational approach. Through a partnership with the USC Lenord Davis School of Gerontology, the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) hosts student interns who recognize the power of intergenerational solidarity, understanding, and support needed to create a society free from elder abuse. At the NCEA, we have been fortunate to have a fantastic set of interns who have helped us further our mission of improving the national response to elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Hear from our interns as they reflect on their internship experiences and how they will carry them to their future endeavors.

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March 10, 2022
The National Center on Elder Abuse: In the Beginning…

If you go to the website for the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), the welcoming statement covers its purpose and origins in two sentences. Of course, both are more nuanced than that, although there is much offered online to attest to purpose and hardly anything on origins. This blog attempts to fill that void. It is the story of the NCEA before it was in existence, when the idea for having such an entity arose, as told by some of us directly involved.

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February 14, 2022
Merging Our Elder Justice Lenses with Heart Shaped Lenses

The month of February sends a heart shaped wave over many of our communities, highlighting one of America’s favorite Hallmark holidays- Valentine’s Day. Stores are filled with heart shaped candy boxes, floral shops are covered in ads for us to buy a bouquet for our special someone, and our favorite restaurants are featuring couples prefixed meals. Whether we are celebrating with a partner, best friends, some self-care, or abstaining from celebrating all together, the holiday still seems to take over the month of February.

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January 05, 2022
The Untold Stories of Elder Mistreatment

Three years ago, as 86-year-old Evelyn was cooking dinner for herself and her 60-year-old son, Manny, who lived in the apartment next door, the pair began to argue about a subject neither can now recall. Though the origins of the disagreement are unclear, the events that followed have been unforgettable. The quarrel quickly devolved into a physical altercation, with Manny dragging his mother to her bedroom, ramming her head into her mattress, and threatening to kill her.

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November 18, 2021
Eldercaring Coordination: Abuse Intervention in Guardianship

Though burgeoning research in the area of elder mistreatment has advanced our understanding of the field, the literature has also exposed significant gaps in our knowledge base. A subject of continuing concern is interventions, specifically, the paucity of available remedies, the inadequacy of person-centered resolutions, and the lack of an evidence base to assess the effectiveness of existing abuse prevention strategies.[i] One evidence-informed practice with the potential to mitigate mistreatment has gained national prominence and increasing traction. In the topical and much-discussed arena of guardianship, a setting rife with the possibility of abuse, Eldercaring coordination has emerged as a meaningful intervention.

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October 20, 2021
Medicare Fraud, Errors, and Abuse Can Cost in Dollars and Health

Medicare fraud can be a big business for criminals. Medicare loses approximately $60 billion annually due to fraud, errors, and abuse, though the exact figure is impossible to measure. Medicare is complicated. What may seem like an error to the beneficiary may simply be the result of a misunderstanding about benefits. It may also be abuse, which involves billing for services that are not covered or are not correctly coded.

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September 14, 2021
Virtually, People of All Ages Can Prevent Elder Abuse

Elder abuse is a serious public health and human rights issue that impacts us all on some level. This also means that there’s something – big or small – each of us can do to prevent elder abuse in our communities. While the COVID-19 pandemic exposed just how widespread ageism is in our society, the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) leaned into the interdependence of all age groups to promote elder justice. Through various ways, the NCEA team strengthened connections with youth advocates to facilitate the flow of support between generations.

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August 11, 2021
Help with financial needs as we age

As we grow older, we face many financial decisions. Where will I live? Who will help me manage my money if I am no longer able to do it myself? How can I protect my money from scammers? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is here to help older adults answer those questions and make financial decisions with confidence. Our Office for Older Americans creates resources to help older adults make sound financial decisions as they age, and educate people about scams and financial exploitation.

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July 28, 2021
Beyond COVID-19: Changes in Long-term Care

To date, almost 660,000 nursing home residents in the U.S. have contracted COVID-19 and more than 133,000 have died of the virus and/or related complications.The number of casualties remains unprecedented and astounding. Yet, the full impact of the disease on surviving residents is still unknown. For much of the past year, beyond the bare numbers reported by long-term care facilities to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), little was revealed about the lived experiences of facility residents.

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May 27, 2021
LGBT Community Stands Strong Against Isolation during COVID-19

As the nation began to take shelter at home during the early days of the COVID-19 Pandemic, SAGE (the national advocacy and services organization for LGBT older adults) knew that older LGBT people would be at increased risk of isolation. Up until this time, there was a heavy reliance on in-person programming through SAGE Centers, Affiliate, and LGBT community centers across the country to reach older LGBT people. Remaining in contact with an already isolated older adult community became a number one priority for SAGE.

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April 15, 2021
Good Neighbor Program: A Law Enforcement Program Worth Replicating

The role of law enforcement is not just about kicking down doors and arresting criminals. It is also about protecting one of our most vulnerable populations. Seniors have greatly contributed to society, worked full careers, raised families, assisted with grandchildren, helped their aging parents; and are now slowing down. They deserve our attention, respect and the protection of our law enforcement. This was the impetus for the Douglas County Sherriff’s office designing the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) Good Neighbor Program.

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March 25, 2021
Hollywood’s Spotlight on Guardianship

This weekend I watched Netflix’s latest production “I Care A Lot” a story depicting a harrowing fictional journey into the dark side of our guardianship/conservatorship system. The film follows a court-appointed guardian who seizes the assets of elderly people for her own, until she seizes the wrong person. My family members watching this with me were incredulous, “Surely this can’t happen, someone cannot just be ripped from their home and their belongings and their rights!” So, I paused the movie and gave them a brief overview of the guardianship system and that led to this blog post.

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March 18, 2021
Social Work and Elder Justice: A Mutually Essential Relationship

As a college student, when I started working with older people, elder abuse was far from my mind. Over time, though, I realized that elder abuse was a widespread problem. Decades later, elder justice has become a central focus of my macro-level work at the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) to enhance social work practice with and social policy affecting older adults.

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February 17, 2021
Honoring Bonnie Brandl and Risa Breckman: Stars in the Field of Elder Abuse

I was a star gazer growing up, looking up at the sky on clear nights, noticing the formations above me. In doing so, I was struck by the concept of “twin stars”, born in the same stellar nursery, flung out on their own into the galaxy, to remain apart but never far away.

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January 25, 2021
Scams That Come to Life After Death

Two weeks before Thanksgiving, Ray Mendoza was shopping at a local Target when he suddenly grew dizzy and lost consciousness. Paramedics took him to the hospital, where he remained comatose in intensive care for over two weeks. The 56-year-old married father of three girls had suffered back-to-back strokes and lost all brain function before succumbing to his injuries.

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January 11, 2021
Name that Tune! – Integrating Music into Senior Fraud Education

For those entrusted to engage older adult communities in safety awareness and education, the limitations set by COVID have presented providers with a multitude of challenges to carrying out their mission. Through various meetings and discussions with colleagues, it seems clear that these challenges are widespread throughout urban communities and rural communities alike. Adjusting outreach approaches, and learning by trial and error, has certainly been the case for our Elder Abuse Prevention Program covering Los Angeles County.

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November 18, 2020
Elder Mistreatment on the Streets

Through much of the past year, COVID-19 has unleashed unprecedented harms and exacerbated preexisting hardships for older adults worldwide. One particularly devastating effect of the contagion has been the descent of older adults at the economic margins into poverty and increased threat of homelessness. Prior to the pandemic, the aging homeless population in the United States was on the rise.The coronavirus has placed them in an even more precarious position.

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October 01, 2020
Finding Support in the Midst of a Tempest

For most of us, the events of the past few months have infused our lives with a discomfiting sense of instability and uncertainty. Collectively, we are responding to pandemic-induced fear and loss, and confronting systemic racial injustice wrought from centuries of structural oppressions imposed on the African American community. On an individual level, each of us navigates our own personal trials. Yet, within the landscape of our various complicated lives, sometimes an incident can jog us out of our respective worlds and lend insight and meaning to the moment.

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September 14, 2020
Supporting our Elder Community: COVID-19 and the Fight Against Loneliness

Our grandmother lives in a bustling retirement community and, before COVID-19, she had a thriving social life. She often had visitors over to her apartment, loved to go to the gym with her friends, and took the bus to the supermarket every week. Because of her compromised immune system, when COVID-19 arose in March, her doctor told her that she needed to self-isolate.

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August 13, 2020
They Decided to Stay: Elder Abuse Shelters, Care Communities and Covid-19

When abuse happens in private homes throughout the country older adults may choose to stay simply because they have nowhere to go where both their medical history and their trauma history can be simultaneously and holistically addressed. Equally potent is the fear that, once they leave home, they may not be able to get back safely.

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July 30, 2020
Without Rites of Passage, What Does the Future Hold for Young Adults and Their Older Counterparts?

Throughout our lives, we experience rites of passage to indicate the end of one phase of development and the beginning of the next. Our rites are now in limbo, due to the emergence of COVID-19. This ambiguity is enhanced and exasperated for younger adults. Rites of passage include three phases: separation, liminality, and incorporation. Separation: In 2020, as pandemic victims died, many unnecessarily, spring-break celebrations segued to semi-permanent separations; and students began defaulting on loans after losing jobs, income, and confidence.

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May 27, 2020
Confronting Ageism, Racism, and Abuse in Later Life During COVID-19

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, older adult victims of crime and abuse experienced unique challenges and systemic barriers to accessing healing and justice services. The pandemic has exacerbated these barriers and created new challenges for older survivors in addition to the added stress and trauma of being higher risk for contracting and suffering from COVID-19.

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May 15, 2020
Learning from each other - Responding to Elder Abuse in Australia

The abuse of our elders is a serious human rights issue. I hear harrowing stories of elder abuse each week; stories of people being pressured for money by their family, losing their entire life savings, suffering physical or sexual abuse and having their medication stolen. We grapple with common issues internationally to address elder abuse. The drivers and manifestations of abuse are similar, as are the challenges in responding and preventing abuse. As it is in the United States, financial abuse is the most common form of elder abuse in Australia, most often perpetrated by the victim’s son or daughter.

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May 08, 2020
The Importance of Connectedness amid COVID-19

Nearly one year ago, Sydney Miller received her undergraduate degree in nursing. The 24-year-old Los Angeles native had been a natural caregiver since childhood, showering attention on her younger siblings, helping her mother with chores, and devotedly tending to her aging grandparents. Becoming a nurse had been a dream since childhood. Her accelerated 15-month nursing program at New York University (NYU) entailed long hours of didactic instruction, clinical practice, and study.

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April 15, 2020
Older Adult Support for Elder Abuse Victims

There is rising awareness that the number and complexity of abuses against the elderly is growing significantly. Whether they’re the victims of financial abuse or mistreatment at the hands of family members, strangers, or professionals, we know that older adults who have been exploited find it difficult to regain their sense of trust and security. This grim reality leaves us wondering how does one really help prevent, and hopefully end, the victimization of these vulnerable citizens? I strongly recommend engaging the services of Senior Corps volunteers serving across the nation.

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March 26, 2020
The Third Tamkin Symposium on Elder Abuse: Propelling the Field through Personal Connections, Research, and Practice

It’s hard to believe with the proliferation of the COVID-19 pandemic wending its way across the globe and into our lives, that just three short weeks ago elder abuse researchers, practitioners, and advocates convened in a communal embrace at the Tamkin Symposium in Pasadena, California. As current health protocols mandate, today we are increasingly insulated from colleagues and community. Conference discussions that centered on the threat of social isolation have given way to social distancing in our new daily reality.

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March 16, 2020
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day: Using the Past to Re-Write the Future

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) is celebrating its 15^th anniversary in 2020! This milestone, and this new decade, gives us pause to consider what we have done, where we are going, and if we are making a difference. We know the creativity and energy of WEAAD have impacted the awareness of elder mistreatment worldwide and this is reassuring.

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February 19, 2020
A Massachusetts Model – Partnering with Persons with a Disability to Address Crimes and Ensure Meaningful Access to Services

In the late 1990s, after a series of high-profile criminal cases involving victims with an intellectual and developmental disability (I/DD), a group of interested professionals in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts collectively found themselves in a position of introspection. Was the Commonwealth delivering to its citizens with a disability equal access and justice under the law?

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January 16, 2020
Using Asset Forfeiture to Compensate Victims

The Department of Justice (Department) Asset Forfeiture Program (Program) plays a critical role in disrupting and dismantling illegal enterprises, depriving criminals of the proceeds of illegal activity, deterring crime, and restoring property to victims.One of the four primary goals of the Department’s Program is to recover assets that may be used to compensate victims when authorized under federal law. See The Attorney General’s Guidelines on the Asset Forfeiture Program (2018), §§ II, V.D.

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November 27, 2019
Coordinated response to help tribal elder victims of abuse needed: How do we address limited community services and supports?

As a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa I am proud to live and celebrate my heritage every day. I appreciate the recognition and awareness that Native American Heritage month brings, though the many issues faced by tribal elders deserve ongoing focus every month.

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November 21, 2019
A Stepping Off Point: Where Does Ageism Fit Into Conversations About Elder Abuse in Tribal Communities?

I recently had the opportunity to review The International Association for Indigenous Aging (IA2) needs assessment examining barriers to screening and management of elder abuse cases by tribal health care providers.

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November 01, 2019
Health Providers Have Desire & Opportunity to Intervene in Cases of Elder Abuse Among American Indian and Alaska Native Patients, But Lack Knowledge and Training: Findings From A New Report

November marks the observance of Native American Heritage month--an opportunity to recognize the storied history, diversity, and contributions of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIANs) in the United States. The month also provides the opportunity to recognize the significant challenges Native people, especially elders, have faced. Elders are considered by many tribes as the keepers of tribal knowledge. Conventional wisdom, both within

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October 01, 2019
Come Out as an LGBT Elder Justice Ally

“All people, regardless of age or ability, have the right to live their lives with justice, dignity, and respect, free from abuse of any kind. (ACL) The keywords here are “ALL people,” not some. I call attention to this quote because historically, LGBT people have been invisible to systems of elder justice. Several years ago I attended a presentation on elder abuse and neglect. As I listened to the panel, it became clear. The experiences of isolation, verbal harassment, and neglect of LGBT people by caregivers is elder abuse and neglect. I asked the panel how we could better educate the LGBT community about elder abuse and neglect and encourage

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September 04, 2019
Important Findings from the NCEA Resource Line

The Han Research Lab at the University of Southern California, Department of Family Medicine, recently published findings in the Journal of Applied Gerontology that summarized the types of calls and contacts made to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) resource line over a nearly three-year period. The study garnered significant media attention, and is novel because it is the first to describe call types to the NCEA resource line. Other studies have characterized elder abuse using different data sources, including national surveys and calls made to Adult Protective Services (APS). Study findings are consistent with others, which have found financial abuse to be the most commonly reported type of

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August 01, 2019
Financial Abuse Program Focus: San Mateo County’s Elder and Dependent Adult Protection Team

Like most communities in Silicon Valley, San Mateo County (California) is a wonderful place to live and work. We have diverse recreational opportunities, lots of natural beauty, a thriving economy and a healthy housing market all in less than 750 square miles. Just south of San Francisco and north of San Jose, it is an ideal place to raise a family, which many are choosing to do – or grow older here. By 2030, the number of older people in San Mateo County is expected to increase by 70% - and Adult Protective Services (APS) has received an increasing number of abuse reports as the community ages.

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June 28, 2019
Paving the Way to Improved Charting: Geriatric Injury Documentation Tool

Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Dept. of Family Medicine and Geriatrics, Alhambra Health care providers in all settings evaluate older adults with evidence of physical injury. For approximately 10% of these patients, the injury may be linked to some form of elder abuse or neglect. However, it is often not always apparent during the initial medical encounter that the injury could be connected to abuse. In fact, it may be weeks, months or even years later that abuse is suspected. When physical injuries are not considered suspicious, they are usually not documented in any detail, if at all, in the medical chart.

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April 01,2019
Adult Protective Services Abuse Registry National Report

Over half the states (26) now have abuser registries for perpetrators of elder and vulnerable adult abuse. In 2016, NAPSA’s Regional Representatives Advisory Board created a volunteer ad hoc committee which examined abuser registries in detail and produced the first-ever, comprehensive report on this recent trend. [1] To be considered, a state registry had to fit the following definition: “a system for maintaining the identity of individuals who are found, only as a result of an APS investigation, to have abused, neglected or exploited seniors or adults (18 and older) with disabilities living in the community or in a facility.” Registries in 26 states met these criteria; of those, 21

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March 04,2019
Opioids and Elder Abuse: A Disquieting Connection

Older adults are an important but frequently forgotten generation that is affected by the opioid crisis in America. As a group, older adults often have multiple chronic conditions and endure high rates of chronic pain. Opioids and related prescription and non-prescription drugs are frequently the treatment of choice for these individuals. Further, the opioid crisis has harmed older adults through the addiction of their children, grandchildren, and others who rely on them for money, child care, food, shelter, and the like. Directly or inadvertently, older adults may be stripped of their resources and quality of life because of the struggles of those around them—and may be highly susceptible to elder

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February 14,2019
Dear Readers: Online Romance Scams

Dear Readers, During the month of February, our thoughts turn to Valentine’s Day and feeling connected. The internet is a great way to explore, but we caution you to use your mind and protect your heart. Have you ever received questionable alerts or notifications in your email or social media accounts that have caused you to raise an eyebrow? Follow your instincts. Did you know that when you are online, looking to socialize, network or date, that scammers may be scoping you out through matchmaking, social networking and professional sites? For those of us who are open and looking for love, realize that relationship building takes time. Understand that there

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February 01,2019
Shelter and the Coordinated Community Response to Elder Abuse: A Growing Global Movement

They came from communities throughout the country. Some were social workers, some lawyers, some nursing home administrators, as well as a variety of other professional backgrounds. Some had years of experience working with older adults, while others brought different types of expertise to a new field. They had come together to attend the fifth annual Symposium of the SPRiNG Alliance, the national network for the rapidly expanding elder abuse shelter movement, held in May 2018 at the Family Justice Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Founded by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Justice at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, which opened its doors as the first elder abuse shelter

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December 03,2018
NAMRS: What It Is and Why You Should Care

Data collection among Adult Protective Services (APS) programs across the U.S. is extremely important. Without knowledge of how vast the problem is, it is nearly impossible to determine adequate funding for victim services, prevention, and administration. A single year’s snapshot of the number of victims reported to APS provides a picture of that period in time, but without data on the years before and after it’s impossible to measure trends. Studies regarding APS data on clients and programs and the need for collection of national data have been completed over the years. In 2000 and 2004, surveys of APS programs were conducted by National Center on Elder Abuse partners. These

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October 30 2018
The Changing Landscape of Elder Abuse Prosecutions: A 22-Year Journey

Recently retired prosecutor at San Diego DA’s office and now a consultant and trainer on criminal elder abuse issues.

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October 15 2018
Animal Cruelty and Interpersonal Violence: Making the Connection

During October’s National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, victim advocates, adult protective service caseworkers, animal control officers, and other first responders have a unique opportunity to raise awareness and develop multidisciplinary teams to prevent and respond to all forms of violence.

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October 01 2018
Celebrating Domestic Violence Awareness Month

As the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is set to expire, many across our movement have worked tirelessly toward the Reauthorization of VAWA which create critical enhancements to the law and improve how we can respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking across the nation.

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September 06 2018
Turning Voices into Action Against Elder Abuse: The Power of Sharing Your Story

We hear the statistics, but hearing an account from an actual survivor of elder abuse gives one an entirely different understanding of the crisis that is plaguing our society. We tend to forget that each person who has experienced elder abuse is not just a number or part of a statistic, but someone’s grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, neighbor, or dear friend; a person with a unique voice who has experienced a horrific violation of their dignity.

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July 19 2018
Missouri’s APS Response to the Opioid Crisis

We have all seen the headlines about the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation. The issue is a national priority. With a focus on the topic and how to combat the problem, sometimes it is easy to forget that the problem has a face and a real impact on our communities. Missouri’s Division of Senior and Disability Services prioritized the issue in 2018 by initiating efforts to identify the scope of the problem, how it is affecting the lives of those we serve, and strategies to assist individuals and communities with healing.

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June 13 2018
You’ve Worked Hard for the Money — Now protect it!

Most of us work hard to save and plan for our retirement. But there are people who work just as hard to take it away from us. Who are they? Phone scammers. We must educate ourselves about the ways of scammers to protect ourselves and those we love.

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April 24 2018
#CountMeToo: Elder Sexual Assault

Over the past year, the ascendance of the #MeToo movement has given voice to women violated by sexual assault, permeating our collective conscious and imbuing April, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, with renewed consequence. Despite the inclusiveness of this righteous campaign, sexually abused older women in nursing homes have been overlooked in the national discourse. These elder victims who are silenced by illness, vulnerability and confinement must be counted, and their stories heard.

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May 31 2018
Southern California Kaiser Permanente Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse Prevention Program

In early 2017, we began work on creating a program to address elder abuse for our Southern California Kaiser Permanente region. Right from the beginning, a difficult question loomed large- how to tackle a problem that is not just local to our organization but one resultant from deep societal and health care system failures?

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April 24 2018
#CountMeToo: Elder Sexual Assault

Over the past year, the ascendance of the #MeToo movement has given voice to women violated by sexual assault, permeating our collective conscious and imbuing April, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, with renewed consequence. Despite the inclusiveness of this righteous campaign, sexually abused older women in nursing homes have been overlooked in the national discourse. These elder victims who are silenced by illness, vulnerability and confinement must be counted, and their stories heard.

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February 28 2018
The Finance, Cognition, and Health in Elders Study: Toward Preventing Financial Exploitation of Older Adults

Why is financial exploitation so common in the elderly population? Why do some older adults fare better than others when making financial decisions? What factors protect or place one at greater risk of being financially exploited? These are just some of the questions that a multidisciplinary team of investigators hope to answer through the Finance, Cognition, and Health in Elders Study (FINCHES) being carried out through USC’s Department of Family Medicine.

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January 12 2018
Older Americans are the Key to Elder Justice

The 1960s were a tumultuous time, filled with activism and passion. Human rights, the expression of equality and acceptance were common themes. People marched, conducted “sit ins” and collaborated to have their voices heard and to turn the public’s attention to equality and justice. Sound familiar?

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December 27 2017
Free Resources Available from CFPB’s Office for Older Americans

The CFPB’s Office for Older Americans works to improve financial security for people 62 and older. We have resources to help those who serve older adults and their financial caregivers. We work on a mix of policy, research, and educational initiatives designed to help protect older consumers from financial harm and to help older Americans make sound decisions with their money as they age.

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November 02, 2017
Boots on the Ground – Fighting Financial Abuse of Elder Veterans

Financial abuse is the most common form of elder mistreatment in the United States, rendering hundreds of thousands of victims financially and emotionally devastated each year. Financial predators often target specific populations and communities.

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August 01, 2017
Putting Elder Abuse on the Public Agenda

Advocates working on elder abuse face a communications problem. The public discourse around violence and abuse has changed dramatically in recent decades, especially with respect to women and children. Older people and abuse, however, are largely left out of these conversations.

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March 07, 2017
Financial Fraud in Later Life: A Growing Epidemic

Older adults hold about a third of the nation’s wealth, yet lose billions every year to scams and fraud. Many older adults have painstakingly acquired financial savings over a lifetime of hard work, and in later life the opportunities and resources are limited to recuperate financial losses. Because of this, scams and fraud can have a particularly devastating impact in later life.

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February 27, 2017
A Unique Model to Addressing Guardianship

Our second guardianship story is based on an interview with Jean Callahan, the Attorney-in-Charge of the Brooklyn Neighborhood Office of the Legal Aid Society, and previously served as the Director of The Guardianship Project at the Vera Institute of Justice.

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February 20, 2017
Living into Guardianship

The National Center on Elder Abuse asked various types of guardians to share their experience of being a guardian and offer advice for other guardians. We are delighted to share the first of two stories.

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February 01, 2017
Abuse by Guardians? Reflections on the New GAO Report

The Report acknowledges the spectrum of kinds of abuse, but states that “financial exploitation is among the more common types.” The Report focuses on elders because it was requested by the Senate Committee on Aging — yet we know that a substantial but undocumented proportion of guardianship cases involve younger adults with disabilities.

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January 04, 2017
The Launch of the Multi-disciplinary Team Technical Assistance Center

On October 25, 2016, the Elder Justice Initiative launched the elder abuse case review multidisciplinary team technical assistance center (MDT TAC). The mission of the MDT TAC is to provide tools, resource materials, and individualized consultations to facilitate the expansion of elder abuse case review multidisciplinary teams across the nation.

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December 05, 2016
Don’t let holiday giving give you the holiday blues!

As the holidays approach, you may be thinking about making gifts to help people in need or to support other causes you believe in. If you’re considering a request for a donation to a charity over the holidays, consider doing some research before you give. By finding out as much as you can about the charity, you can avoid fraudsters who try to take advantage of your generosity. Here are tips to help make sure your charitable contributions don’t go to a scammer.

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November 01, 2016
Protecting Those Who Have Protected Us-Fighting Veterans Claim Fraud and Abuse

“Is it necessary or worth it to use an attorney or some other professional group to assist in claiming VA benefits.” The true answer is yes, this can be beneficial as long as the veteran understands how to proceed. However, there are many groups out there who are just trying to scam a veteran out of their money.

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October 01, 2016
“Medicare Fraud Is a Crime Against Seniors and the Disabled”

Medicare only covers durable medical equipment (DME) that is medically necessary with a doctor’s prescription. Scammers, however, hope you don’t know that. They just want your Medicare number to bill Medicare for equipment you never receive, or to bill Medicare for much more expensive equipment than you receive.

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September 08, 2016
Along the Road to Elder Justice

As the NCEA begins its third fiscal year at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, we need to pay homage to the innovators of the Elder Justice Roadmap. This publication definitely laid out the issues, questions, and potential solutions relating to Elder Abuse in 2014. I am struck by how far we have come and how much further we have to go. All of us should continue to utilize this tool as we continue our journey.

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August 01, 2016
What is a Guardian Supposed to Do, Anyway?

We’ve all heard of good, bad and mediocre guardians. We’ve seen the press stories raging about exploitive guardians. There are no statistics, yet we know that guardian practice ranges from the heroic to the sufficient to the deficient to the abusive – it’s the proportions that are not clear. But encountering a guardian up close and personal – or being one, or having one – makes you want to reach for a yardstick to see how well the guardian measures up. Or at least to have a framework for thinking about it.

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July 11, 2016
Asking the Hard Questions About Elder Abuse and Finding the Answers

The fact is that there are direct and indirect victims: it is clear that each case of abuse and neglect affects many more than one person. The loved ones of elder victims are traumatized as well, often wondering what they could have done differently and how they can help their loved one cope with their situation.

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April 15, 2016
The Solution to Elder Abuse

Ever looked for your glasses only to find them perched up on your head? After years and years of seeking for solutions to elder abuse in all the wrong places it has finally presented itself.

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March 06, 2016
Undue Influence: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution

In 2014 California legislation became effective to define undue influence (Probate Code §86, Welfare and Institutions Code §15410.70) for civil proceedings as, Undue influence means excessive persuasion that causes another person to act or refrain from acting by overcoming that person’s free will and results in inequity. In determining whether a result was produced by undue influence, all of the following shall be considered: 1) vulnerability of the victim, 2) influencer’s apparent authority, 3) actions or tactics used by the influencer, and 4) equity of the result.

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February 01, 2016
Looking for Love…

A person who could be isolated, alone and vulnerable like an older adult may be even more susceptible when it comes to making decisions involving matters of the heart. So in this month when the focus is on Valentine’s Day, our hearts, relationships, and the feeling of being in love- let us take a moment to explore how to protect ourselves and loved ones from something known as the Sweetheart Scam.

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January 04, 2016
APS 101: What to Expect When Working with Adult Protective Services

When someone speaks of “adult protective services” or “APS” they are typically referring to a state or county government agency that investigates reports abuse, neglect and exploitation of seniors and adults with a disability and provides protection to the victims.

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December 23, 2015
Our Holiday Gift for You-New Materials for the New Year

Dementia and elder abuse: As a civilized society, these are terms that should not ever occur in the same sentence, yet they do and with great regularity. As I travel home from visiting a relative that I haven’t seen for the past year, I am struck with the profound sadness and odd pleasure that perhaps I can help to make the journey that lays ahead a bit less chaotic, a bit more predictable, but mostly, more dignified by personal agency to the extent possible.

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December 01, 2015
Beware of Scams Targeting Older People During the Holidays

The CFPB’s Office for Older Americans is working to provide older consumers and their families with the tools and information they need to protect themselves from frauds and scams.

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November 01, 2015
Addressing Cognitive Capacity and Elder Abuse

Dementia and elder abuse: As a civilized society, these are terms that should not ever occur in the same sentence, yet they do and with great regularity. As I travel home from visiting a relative that I haven’t seen for the past year, I am struck with the profound sadness and odd pleasure that perhaps I can help to make the journey that lays ahead a bit less chaotic, a bit more predictable, but mostly, more dignified by personal agency to the extent possible.

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October 01, 2015
Services for Older Victims of Abuse

As the nation turns its attention to matters surrounding domestic violence in the month of October, we thought we would like to explore this issue further. Laura Mosqueda,M.D. Director of the National Center on Elder Abuse, and Bonnie Brandl, MSW, Director of the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life, examine the issue.

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September 01, 2015
My Husband the Scam Victim

In this blog we share with you the schemes and scams frauds and cons use to steal money and information from the elderly. We will cover the latest tricks used to coerce elders into believing it is necessary for them to give out personal information.

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