Home

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

Stay Connected with CEJC

Lisa Nerenberg: An Ecological Model of Elder Justice
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

Join our mailing list
Support our efforts and become a CEJC Member

Advocates Academy Toolkit Pages

Check out our Awareness Snapshots page for video presentations on CEJC's Principles of Elder Justice, Investment Scams, Supported Decision Making, and more coming soon.
Looking for other elder justice information? Search here:

CEJC News

Policy Updates: CEJC Supports/ Monitors Elder Justice Legislation
CEJC has signed on a co-sponsor to AB 2302, which addresses the under-funding of APS and seeks to build the APS infrastructure to serve the growing older adult homeless population. Read more here.

Act Now/Weigh In

California Master Plan for Aging
Although California Master Plan for Aging (MPA) activities have been suspended so that state agencies can focus their efforts on Covid-19, advocates can continue to offer comments and recommendations:

For updates on the plan
To view CEJC’s recommendations, go to CEJC's Recommendations for the MPA

National Advocates Academy

Webinar Recordings Available
In case you've missed any of our Advocates Academy webinars, you can listen to recordings of them here.
Be sure to view our most recent webinars:

New! The Power of Peer Support Groups for Older Scam Victims February 18, 2020
Civil Remedies for Empowering Victims of Elder Financial Exploitation December 11, 2019
Improving Access to Aging Services with Community Health Workers (CHWs) November 26, 2019

News & Updates

To subscribe to our News & Update emails, click here:

Visit our March/April 2020 News & Updates. Highlights include:

News & Updates

California News

Master Plan for Aging Halts for COVID-19
The California Department of Aging (CDA) has temporarily postponed MPA activities through March in light of COVID-19 developments. Recent activities of special significance for elder justice advocates include:

The creation of an Equity Work Group to consider the perspectives and needs of groups that have been historically underrepresented. For more information, go to Equity Work Group.
Webinar: Preventing & Responding to Abuse, Neglect, & Exploitation. For information on this March 4, 2020 webinar, go to Webinar Wednesdays.
CEJC Recommendations for the MPA. See Action Alert: CEJC Recommendations for the MPA.

For ongoing MPA updates, including webinars and committee meetings, go to MPA.

State News (Other States)

Vermont APS Launches Restorative Justice Pilot Project
Vermont’s Adult Protective Services (APS) unit has been awarded a three year, one-million-dollar grant by the Administration for Community Living for a Restorative Justice Program to serve victims and perpetrators of vulnerable adult maltreatment. Restorative justice is a philosophy that focuses on repairing the harm caused by crime and abuse by transforming people, relationships and communities. The pilot program will draw on victims’ strengths, cultural beliefs, goals, wishes and expectations to create plans to repair harm and make victims “whole” through harm reduction services, reparation, and restitution. Anticipated outcomes include decreased recidivism and re-victimization, and stakeholders’ satisfaction with outcomes.

National News

Bob Blancato Applauds and Updates NNSEJC
During a recent meeting of the National Network of State Elder Justice Coalition (NNSEJC), Elder Justice Coalition (EJC) Coordinator Bob Blancato called the group a “critical new advocacy voice for national issues” and offered suggestions for how members can partner with the EJC. Noting that three things motivate policy makers to act--surveys, stories, and studies—he cited as examples the MetLife study on financial abuse, which responded to repeated demands for abuse statistics, as well as victims and family members coming before key Congressional committees to tell their stories. Referring to the reauthorization of the Elder Justice Act (EJA), which will likely be called the Elder Justice Reform Act, he commended Congress on their bipartisan, bicameral cooperation on the Bill, which is expected to renew the 5 core elements of the original EJA...... read more here.

FTC Releases 2019 Sentinel Data
Consumer Sentinel is an online database operated by the Federal Trade Commission and available to law enforcement that collects consumer reports about fraud, identity theft, and other consumer protection topics. Each year it publishes annual reports on the data. The recently released report for 2019 shows that:

There were 1.7 million fraud complaints;
Losses were $1.9 billion, an increase of $293 million from the previous year;
Most complaints were about imposters, including romance scams and scammers representing themselves as employees of the Internal Revenue Service or the Social Security Administration;
33% of those losing money were in their 20s; and
Older consumers are victimized less often but lose more.

To view the report, go to 2019 Sentinel Data.

New Resources

Adult Protective Services (APS) and COVID-19
The APS Technical Assistance Resource Center (APS TARC) has released guidelines for ensuring the safety of APS clients and workers during the epidemic. In addition to the obvious—avoid home visits whenever possible and stay apprised of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for social distancing, APS workers are urged to inquire as to whether clients have access to computers, tablets, or smart phones; how they would like to be contacted; and if they would like APS workers to contact others for ongoing communication. Workers are further advised to ask questions about clients’ health and recent travel history, such as: has anyone in their household been ill with a fever, cough or sneezing; has anyone come into contact with others who are ill with these symptoms; and has anyone in the household recently traveled internationally? See APS and COVID-19.

DOJ’s Elder Justice Network Locator Map
The Elder Justice Initiative of the Department of Justice recently launched the Locator Map to enable elder justice professionals to locate elder justice networks/teams across the nation. Networks interested in being included in the Locator can submit their network name, type, address, web address, and email to elder.justice@usdoj.gov.

Research & Reports

The Things They Carried: Advancing Trauma Informed Responses to Elder Abuse
Produced by the NYC Elder Abuse Center and the Weinberg Center for Elder Justice, this report draws from the findings of a 2018 symposium that brought together experts to consider the impact of trauma on older victims of abuse. The report, which is available at The Things They Carried, contains a summary of the event and participants’ recommendations.