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Protecting the rights, independence, and safety of older people by exploring barriers, sharing information and ideas, and providing a voice from the field to policy makers

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Charles Sabatino: Calling for a U.N. Convention on the Rights of Older People
John Dussich on Restorative Justice and Elder Abuse: A Promising Match?
Georgia Anetzberger on How Not to Be a Victim: Remembering Jenny

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CEJC News

CEJC's 2019 Policy Priorities
CEJC's 2019 policy agenda focuses on safeguarding the state's most vulnerable members in partnership with the County Welfare Directions Association (CWDA), the California Commission on Aging (CCoA) and the California Association of CAPA/PG/PCs (CAPAPGPC). Co-sponsored initiatives include:

Senate Bill 440. This bill would create a Task Force to explore the needs of adults with cognitive impairments and reduce their risk of abuse, neglect, exploitation, and discrimination.
Budget Requests for Enhanced APS, CAPA/PG/PC Training. This request for $5.75 million (General Fund, to be matched by federal funds) builds on the partners' successful 2016 advocacy that resulted in the Legislature and Governor approving $3 million to train APS and PA/PG/PC workers and the creation of a permanent state level Adult Protective Services Liaison within the California Department of Social Services.

For more on these efforts and other news, see CEJC News in May/June News & Updates.

Act Now/Weigh In

Support SB 440 Cognitive Impairment Task Force
Click here for more information and for a sample letter of support.

Send a Letter of Support to Secure Training Funds for APS and Public Guardians
Click here for more information and for sample letters of support.

ACL Seeking Stakeholder Input on EJCC
The Administration for Community Living is soliciting input from stakeholders about future activities they would like to see the Elder Justice Coordinating Council (EJCC) undertake. The EJCC coordinates federal activities related to elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Comments can be submitted electronically to ejcc@acl.hhs.gov with “Thoughts and Ideas” in the subject line through September 30, 2019. For more, go to EJCC Comments.

National Advocates Academy

Webinar Recording Now Available
In case you missed our May 22 webinar: State ID Theft Coalitions: Stolen Identities and Beyond, a recording is now available on the Past Webinar Recordings page.

CEJC/National Elder Justice Advocates Academy Helps Launch National Network
Following the Advocates Academy's 2018 ASA panel presentation and follow-up webinar "Building an Elder Justice Movement State by State," the panelists began meeting to explore the need for an ongoing network to foster collaboration and information sharing. The result is the newly formed National Network of State Elder Justice Coalitions (NNSEJC). To learn more, visit NNSEJC.

News & Updates

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News & Updates

California News

Flagship Awareness Month Event Features Kathy Greenlee
This year, the California Department of Social Services, in collaboration with community and state partners, will sponsor an Elder and Dependent Adult Awareness Month event featuring former Assistant Secretary for Aging (DHHS) Kathy Greenlee as the keynote speaker. As head of the Administration on Community Living (ACL), Ms. Greenlee was instrumental in implementing the Elder Justice Act. The event, which takes place Thursday, June 6 at 1:00, will also include brief “TED-Talk" style presentations on speaking out against abuse, mandated reporters' failure to report, the HomeSafe homelessness prevention program, and interviewing techniques for assessing decisional capacity. Policy makers, service providers, and other stakeholders are welcome to attend or to watch via live-stream. A reception will follow.

Elder & Dependent Adult Abuse Awareness Event
Thursday, June 6, 2019 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM (PDT)
Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, 828 I St., Sacramento, CA 95814
To register or sign up for the live-stream, go to Abuse Awareness Event.

National News

ACL Shake-Up
The Administration for Community Living (ACL-DHHS) has announced a reorganization, which, among other things, charges the Office of Elder Justice and Adult Protective Services to assume responsibility for Long-Term Care Ombudsman functions under the direction of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging. It will further change the names of multiple entities within the organization and centralize Older Americans Act (OAA) program and fiscal operations that are currently carried out by Regional Offices, in Washington. Regional Office Program Specialists and Fiscal Operations Specialists who do not choose to relocate must leave ACL employment. The plan can be found here.

San Mateo Team Wins National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Award
Every year, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), the federal agency that oversees Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) programs, sponsors National Crime Victims’ Rights Week to raise awareness about victims’ rights, showcase innovations, and celebrate champions. This year's theme is Honoring Our Past. Creating Hope for the Future.
Among the programs recognized for their accomplishments this year is the San Mateo County Elder and Dependent Adult Protection Team (EDAPT), which received the Crime Victims Financial Restoration Award. EDAPT consists of law enforcement officers, social workers, and attorneys. It has initiated 565 cases of financial abuse and conducted nearly 425 events to build awareness of elder financial abuse and victim services. For more see EDAPT.

Administration Calls for Comments on Changes to Poverty Guidelines That Would Hurt the Poor
The Trump Administration is requesting public comment on changing the way the federal poverty guideline is calculated, which could reduce access to programs like Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) and CalFresh, California’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that use the poverty guideline to determine eligibility. The possible change, that could affect millions of low-income older adults, was announced in a notice published this week in the Federal Register.

New Resources

New Resources on Legal Issues in Elder Abuse for APS
The Academy for Professional Excellence at San Diego State University School of Social Work has released two new resources for APS professionals:

NCVC Revises Advocate’s Fraud Guide
The National Center on Victims of Crime has revised Taking Action: An Advocate’s Guide to Assisting Victims of Financial Fraud, which describes advocates' role in making victims whole using victim focussed approaches and action steps. See Taking Action: An Advocate’s Guide to Assisting Victims of Financial Fraud.

Research & Reports

Abusers' Traits More Predictive of Abuse than Victims'
A team of researchers led by Marti DeLiema has concluded that perpetrators' characteristics are more predictive of abuse than victims' characteristics. Using data collected by APS workers in Illinois, the researchers show that abusers fall into four distinct subtypes: caring, temperamental, dependent, and dangerous. Differences were observed among the groups with respect to aggression, financial dependency, substance abuse, irresponsibility, and the emotional and instrumental support they provide to victims. Other relevant factors include abusers' age, gender, relationships to their victims, and the types of abuse they committed. Dr. DeLiema shared her findings and their implications during The Stressed Caregiver Versus the Bad Apple: Classifying Abusers Using APS Data, a Research to Practice (R2P) webinar hosted by the National Adult Protective Services Association.

Study Finds Assaults Against Older Men up 75%
A newly released study on nonfatal assaults found that assaults against American men 60 and older increased 75.4% between 2002 and 2016. This compares to a 35.4% increase for women between 2007 and 2016. See Assaults Against Men.

Media Watch

Shifting the Patients-As-Consumers Paradigm
In a provocative article in the March 2019 issue of Health Affairs, authors Michael Gusmano, Mildred Solomon, and Karen Maschka challenge the use of the "metaphor" of patients as consumers of care, claiming that it places a burden on patients as opposed to empowering them, which was its intent. According to the authors, "Patients can be construed as consumers only if they are operating within a market. But healthcare is not a market in the usual way that markets are defined." They further contend that the approach calls for patients to solve society’s cost-containment challenges by being prudent purchasers of medical care services. They call instead for patient-centered approaches. See Shifting the Patients-As-Consumers Paradigm.

California Alliance Highlighted in Next Avenue
The California Aging and Disability Alliance's efforts to achieve a public long-term care financing program was cited in a recent article in Next Avenue. The article, which describes how states are leading the way in crafting long term care plans, also cited Governor Newsom's 2019 State of the State Address in which he calls for a new master plan on aging. See California Alliance.

Nursing Home Fines Lowered Under Trump Administration
In a new report by Kaiser Health News, Jordan Rau reports that “the Trump Administration’s decision to alter the way it punishes nursing homes has resulted in lower fines against many facilities found to have endangered or injured residents.” The article details how the current administration has switched from fining nursing homes for each day they are out of compliance— the Obama administration's approach—to issuing a single fine for two thirds of infractions. This resulted in the average fine dropping to $28,405, down from $41,260 in 2016. According to Harvard Professor Dr. Ashish Jha, who is cited in the report, "For a small nursing home it could be real money, but for bigger ones it’s more likely a rounding error." CMS claims to have revised multiple rules governing fines to make its punishments fair, more consistent and better tailored to prod homes to improve care. See Fines Lowered.

Visit our May/June 2019 News & Updates for more, including:
National