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
Who We Are
CEJC is a multidisciplinary membership organization providing a voice from the field in elder justice policy and practice. We promote the rights of older adults, including protection against age-based discrimination and elder abuse, and equitable access to resources, health care, and the legal system by those in greatest need. Our programs include: Nat'l Elder Justice Advocates Academy The Academy provides advocates with information, updates, promising practices, webinars, toolkits, and opportunities to join in the national dialogue on elder justice. Senior Medicare Patrol CEJC partners with the California Senior Medicare Patrol to inform professionals, advocates, and the public about how Medicare fraud harms seniors, caregivers, and the public, and what they can do. |
Policy
CEJC advocates for policy reform, raises awareness about elder justice developments, creates opportunities for exchange among advocates and policy makers, and provides consultation, training, and technical assistance. Our work reflects our Principles of Elder Justice handout and video. Our current work focuses on:
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Learn
Our educational materials focus on leading edge issues in elder justice with the aim of fostering new ideas and innovations. They include:
In Case You Missed It: CEJC and Senior Medicare Patrol co-hosted Fraud and Financial Abuse Prevention Networks: Showcasing Innovation on Thursday, January 28th, 2021. The recording is available here. |
News & Updates |
To view the full November/December 2020 News & Updates and to subscribe to News & Updates emails, click here:
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National News
Appropriation Bill Contains APS Funds The fiscal year 2021 appropriations bill and pandemic relief legislation that went into law on Sunday, December 27th (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021) includes one-time, one-year funding for Elder Justice Act related programs, half of which are dedicated to Adult Protective Services. The legislation directs the funds to be spent for activities authorized under the Elder Justice Act for elder abuse prevention, and, in particular, to prevent it from increasing during the pandemic (the EJA, which was passed in 2009 as part of the Affordable Care Act, expired in 2014). Advocates had hoped that the new budget would include a reauthorization of the Elder Justice Act, but the new funds give advocates hope for crossing the finish line in the next Congress. ABA Publishes 2020 State Guardianship Laws The American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging has released the latest in its annual compilation of state guardianships. This year’s summary contains 22 new enactments from 38 states. See 2020 Adult Guardianship Legislation Summary. Elder Fraud Victims to Receive Refunds If you’ve ever wondered why it’s important to report financial abuse to federal law enforcement, here’s one good reason. Epsilon Data Management, one of the largest marketing companies in the world, has entered into a settlement with the Department of Justice to resolve a criminal charge for selling millions of Americans’ information to perpetrators of elder fraud schemes. Of the $150 million settlement Epsilon will be required to pay, victims are slated to receive $127.5 million. For more, see Epsilon Settlement. |
California News
MPA Highlights 5 Goals, Including Elder Justice Signaling a new era of bold leadership in aging services, Kim McCoy Wade, Director of the California Department of Aging, and Health & Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly have released California’s first-ever Master Plan for Aging (MPA), which outlines 5 goals: 1) building housing for all ages, 2) improving access to health services, 3) providing inclusive opportunities for seniors to live and work without fear of abuse and neglect, 4) bolstering the caregiving workforce, and 5) increasing economic security for aging Californians. It outlines over 100 "Action-Ready Initiatives" that have already been adopted for implementation by state agencies in partnership with stakeholders and the Legislature. Initiatives that promote elder justice are contained under Goal 3:
Cal Launches Consumer Financial Protection Agency California’s Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL), which took effect Jan. 1, 2021, creates the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, replacing the former Department of Business Oversight. The agency will have authority to regulate previously unregulated financial products and services and review all claims of unlawful, unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices. The new organization is asking for advocates’ help in raising awareness and has created a social media kit for doing so. Graphics and social media copy are available at CCFPL on their website at CCFPL . |
State News (Other States)
North Carolina Launches Romance Imposter Scam Peer Support Group North Carolina is among the most recent states to start a Romance Imposter Scam Peer Support Group. The new program was started with support from the Cybercrime Support Network and North Carolina's United Way 211 program with funding from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) of the U.S. Department of Justice. For more on Cybercrime Support Network and state I.D. theft Coalitions, see State ID Theft Coalitions: Stolen Identities and Beyond (May 22, 2019). Maine Launches Elder Justice Coordinating Partnership In October of 2019 Maine Governor Janet Mills signed an Executive Order establishing the Elder Justice Coordinating Partnership. The mission of the EJCP, a public/private partnership whose members represent a diverse range of backgrounds and experience, is to create an elder justice roadmap for the State of Maine. The first meeting is scheduled in September, 2020.
NNSEJC was formed in 2018 to build capacity at the state and national levels by sharing information, resources, and expertise. For more information and updates, see NNSEJC. Upcoming Meetings The next NNSEJC Membership meeting is on March 11, 2021. It will focus on the role of state legal assistance developers. For more information, contact NSEJC@gmail.com. NNSEJC Founders Celebrated for Leadership As part of its Lights of Joy Campaign, the National Center on Elder Abuse celebrated leaders in the field of elder abuse prevention. Among those recognized as “lights of joy” for their leadership were NNSECJ founding members Risa Breckman and Georgia Anetzberger. Other Lights of Joy leaders are Laura Mosqueda and Bonnie Brandl. |
New Resources
National Alliance to End Homelessness Toolkits and Training People of color, including older adults, experience homelessness at disproportionately high rates due to historic and ongoing systemic racism. These resources, produced by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), explain these disparities and the structural factors that contribute to them, including disproportionality in criminal justice responses, poverty, redlining, mental and physical health, incarceration, and more. They also provide guidance in how to improve equity across homeless service systems. For more, see Racial Equity and Homelessness. Indigenous Elder Justice Resources The National Center on Elder Abuse, in collaboration with the National Indigenous Elder Justice Initiative, has released nine new resources, including:
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Research & Reports
ABA Issues Briefing Paper on Guardianship Reform This publication, produced by the Commission on Law and Aging of the American Bar Association (COLA), describes Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS), a model designed to assist states improve their guardianship systems and explore alternatives to guardianship. There are currently WINGS or similar programs in 25 states. In 2016, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) awarded COLA an Elder Justice Innovation Grant Award to assist in the development of WINGS in seven states: Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Indiana, Idaho, Oregon, and Utah. See WINGS Briefing Paper: Advancing Guardianship Reform and Promoting Less Restrictive Options. NCEA Releases Research Roundup In recent years, the National Center on Elder Abuse has produced an annual compilation of research published in the last year. The recently released edition classifies studies into the following nine categories: (1) Financial, physical, psychological, sexual abuse and neglect, (2) multidisciplinary (3) reporting and disclosure, (4) women and elder abuse, (5) culture and ethnicity, (6) long-term care and caregivers, (7) elder abuse detection, (8) policy and intervention, (9) cognition and capacity, (10) miscellaneous research (11) other relevant research. See September 2019- August 2020 Elder Abuse Annual Research Compilation. California's Response to Elder Financial Abuse Reviewed in GAO Report California was one of eight states selected for review by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) along with Florida, Maine, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. GAO was asked to study the extent to which the National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System (NAMRS), a voluntary national data collection program operated by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), provides information on elder financial exploitation. The selected states were chosen because they currently collect information on the costs of financial abuse. The report noted the challenges California faces in collecting statewide data given that its 58 counties collect their own data separately. This is in contrast to other states that have statewide systems. GAO recommends that HHS (1) work with state APS agencies to collect and submit cost data to NAMRS, and (2) develop a timeframe to share states' tools. See GAO-21-90 Elder Financial Exploitation. |