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The National Adult Protective Services Resource Center (NAPSRC) is a function of the US Administration on Aging through a grant to the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA).
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JOIN THE NAPSRC
MAILING LIST!
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AoA's Year of Elder Abuse
Prevention
The US Administration on Aging (AoA) has declared 2012 - 2013 as the Year of Elder Abuse Prevention (YEAP) to raise public awareness about elder abuse and the importance of preventing, identifying, and responding to this serious, often hidden problem.
The AoA website has for more information including a toolkit on elder abuse awareness, and customizable posters and fact sheets on the warning signs of, and how to protect yourself from, abuse, neglect, and exploitation. To access the materials visit the AoA Year of Elder Abuse Prevention page.
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Brooke Astor's Son Conviction Upheld by Appeals Court
Socialite and philanthropist Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, 88, lost his bid to have his conviction for defrauding his mother overturned.
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Loneliness Kills
It's been known for years that isolation is a huge risk factor for
abuse, but according to a recent study, isolation and loneliness by themselves greatly increase the likelihood of death among older persons.
Seniors who do not regularly connect with friends and family areforty-eight per cent more likely to die prematurely than those with strong social networks. The isolated elders' overall risk of death was 26%.
As the full article at The Telegraph points out, the closing of senior centers and adult day services carries an even bigger cost than previously realized.
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IOM: Elder Abuse and its Prevention
April 17-18, 2013
Keck Center
Washington, DC
A Workshop will be hosted by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
May 7th, 2013
FTC Conference Center
Washington, DC
The FTC will bring together experts from government, private industry, and public interest groups to discuss the unique challenges facing victims of senior identity theft. The forum will include panels on different types of senior identity theft - tax and government benefits, medical, and long-term care - and will also explore the best consumer education and outreach techniques for reaching seniors.
Webcast: A live webcast will be available on the day of the workshop. Check this page for more information.
Phoenix, AZ
A host of distinguished experts will lead informative and skill-building sessions on topics such as:
- Child and youth victimization
- Violence against women
- Trauma and resilience
- Victims of human trafficking
- Immigrant victims
- Elder abuse
- Organizational capacity
- and much more!
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Have something you want to share?
Do you have a recent success story, a new program initiative, or a revised training you'd like to share with your APS colleagues across the country? Do you have an upcoming conference or other event you'd like people to know about? Would like to further honor your state and local APS award winners? Please send a brief description in an email to napsrc@napsa-now.org.
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The National Adult Protective Services Resource Center (NAPSRC) is a project (Grant No. 90ER0002/01) of the U.S. Administration on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), administered by the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA). Grantees carrying out projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Therefore, points of view or opinions do not necessarily represent official Administration on Aging or DHHS policy.
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The NAPSRC newsletter is now bimonthly rather than monthly. As you can see, a lot can happen in two months!
As always, a big thank you to the Aging Policy and Public Health News from Health Benefits ABCs, to the NCEA and NAPSRC newsfeeds, and to CAAR E-Clippings for current news.
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ELDER ABUSE IS GETTING A LOT MORE ATTENTION
Several recent and upcoming national events address the issue
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) hosted an Elder Maltreatment & Care Symposium on March 8th at their headquarters in Baltimore.
CMS has worked on developing a tool for health care providers to screen for and to report elder maltreatment. The purpose of the symposium was to solicit input from stakeholders to assist CMS in further development of
Measure #181: Elder Maltreatment Screen and Follow-Up Plan, as part of the Physician Quality Reporting System.
Speakers included Dr. Xin Qi Dong, Dr. Terry Fulmer, Andy Mao and Erica Smith of the Justice Department, Barbara Dieker of AoA, CMS representatives and others. The symposium was webcast and the archived version will soon be available on the CMS website. Presenters materials are available here.
American Society on Aging Conference prominently featured elder abuse In contrast to many previous ASA conferences, the 2013 event in Chicago featured a fairly large number of presentations on elder abuse. In addition to the workshops, several plenary session speakers also talked about the issue, including Under Secretary for Aging, Kathy Greenlee, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who received an award for his Elder Justice Act advocacy from the Bob Blancato, Director of the Elder Justice Coalition, and Debra Whitman of the AARP Policy Institute all included remarks about abuse of older persons. Joe Snyder, director of Philadelphia's Protective Services Program, spoke about financial exploitation with Skip Humphrey, Director of the Older Americans Office at the Consumer Financial Protection Board, at a special forum on financial competence. A well-attended elder abuse peer group meeting also occurred. Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing on Jamaican Phone Fraud
The Senate Special Committee on Aging, under its new Chairman, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida and Ranking Member, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, conducted a hearing o n March 13th entitled " 876-SCAM: Jamaican Phone Fraud Targeting Seniors." Lottery and other types of phone scams originating in Jamaica rob seniors of at least $1 billion annually. The hearing can be viewed on the Senate Special Committee on Aging website. Institute on Medicine Workshop on Elder Abuse and Its Prevention The prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM) is hosting a two-day workshop on Elder Abuse and its prevention from a global perspective on April 17 - 18 in Washington, DC. According the event webpage, "the ultimate objective is to illuminate promising global and multi-sectoral evidence-based approaches to the prevention of elder maltreatment." Kathleen Quinn of NAPSA will address APS and its workforce readiness on the panel addressing neglect. The workshop is free and open to the public. To register to attend the meeting in person or to attend via webcast, please click here. |
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Research to Practice (R2P) Webinar
Principles of Effective Evaluation and
Research Capacity Building in APS
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Increasing demands for demonstrating positive results and outcomes of community services, including Adult Protective Services, have put significant pressure on program administrators and service providers to engage in ongoing evaluation research. In this webinar the presenters will describe the principles underlying effective organizational capacity-building for evaluation, review critical steps necessary for achieving evaluation goals, and highlight the benefits of engaging in on-going evaluation practice. Examples will be drawn from an innovative program called ASSERT (Assistance, Services and Support for Evaluation Research Training, a practical educational program that provides community services providers with the strategies, approaches and skills they need to conduct meaningful program evaluation and utilization-focused research.
Presenters
Madelyn Iris, PH.D., Director, Leonard Schanfield Research Institute, CJE SeniorLife, Chicago, IL and Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
Rebecca Berman, Ph.D.
Senior Evaluation and Research Specialist, Leonard Schanfield Research Institute, CJE SeniorLife, Chicago, IL
Lisa Peters-Beumer, M.P.H., Assistant Vice President, Adult and Senior Services, Easter Seals, Inc.
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Sequestration Cuts Major Funding Source for APS by 10%
Approximately two-thirds of the states use funding from the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) to support APS in whole or in part. SSBG, a flexible funding stream which states can use for up to twenty-nine different social services, represents the only federal funds APS receives.
On March 4th, the HHS Administration for Children and Families informed the states in a "dear colleague letter" that "since the funding and sequester statutes do not
offer flexibility for Social Services Block Grant, the overall payments for the fiscal year will be reduced by 5.1%. Therefore, the remaining quarterly payments for the fiscal year will be reduced by approximately 10.2%."
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Elder Abuse Victims Act of 2013 HR 861
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) introduced the Elder Abuse Victims Act of 2013 (H.R. 861) in the House of Representatives. Cosponsoring the Act are Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. William Owens (D-NY), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), and Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA).
The Act would create an Office of Elder Justice in the Department of Justice to address elder abuse issues. It would require the Director of the Office to provide information, training and technical assistance to help state and local governments to prevent, investigate, prosecute and mitigate elder abuse, evaluate the effectiveness of measures designed to prevent and respond to elder abuse, evaluate training models, and conduct and regularly update state laws and practices related to elder abuse. It would also improve data collection and provide grants and technical assistance to states to improve elder abuse response and prosecution as well as have a compensated victims program within the DOJ.
Many of the provisions of the Elder Abuse Victims Act were in the original Elder Justice Act but were stripped out before the Act was passed.
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U.S. Senator Murphy Calls for Federal Probe into Abuse and Neglect of Developmentally Disabled
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, citing an "alarming number of deaths and cases of abuse" of persons with developmental disabilities at government-financed residential facilities, asked the HHS Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson to immediately investigate. The letter went on to say that "Privatization of care may mean lower costs, but without the proper oversight and requirements for well-trained staff. While individuals with developmental disabilities may not be able to speak for themselves, we are not absolved of the responsibility to care for them in a humane and fair manner." Senator Murphy's concerns were driven by newspapers articles stating that state investigators had found that neglect resulted in 76 preventable deaths of developmentally disabled residents. The Senator noted that similar problems have arisen in other states.
Read the full article at Courant.com.
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Aging parents worry about adult children with disabilities
In addition to the normal worries attendant to growing old, parents of adult children with developmental disabilities have an overriding concern: what will happen to the
children, often still under their care, when they become incapacitated or die? According to a recent MetLife Mature Market survey, almost 70 percent of the families of special-needs adults said they were worried about their children's futures. APS responds to numerous cases where adult children who lack cognitive capacity may be trying to provide care for their now-elderly parents, but are not able to do so adequately. The result is that APS intervenes to provide help for everyone involved, both the aging parents and the adult children.
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Bullying and Elder Abuse - Is There a Connection?
Joe Snyder, director of Philadelphia's Protective Services Program, presented on the similarities between elder abuse and bullying at a Temple law school conference examining bullying across the lifespan in February.
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Meth Lab Cleanup: Legal Resources
APS not infrequently responds to sites where methamphetamine (meth) is or has been produced. Exposure to meth is dangerous for anyone who comes into contact with it.
The most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that there are approximately 353,000 current meth users in the United States. The public health threat caused by meth use is compounded by the dangerous toxins created in its production, and this threat persists even after the lab is shut down. Those who live in homes or rental housing previously used as meth labs can face health problems from the toxins that linger in the environment.
Mathew Swinburne, attorney at the Network for Public Health Law's Eastern Region, examines the meth lab remediation issue in his blog, which includes a link to a 50-State Survey of Laws and Regulations and Issue Brief.
The Network also provides The Emergency Volunteer Toolkit, which addresses key concepts concerning emergency response volunteers, including types of volunteers, federal and state laws governing or affecting volunteers, and volunteer registration.
For the toolkits and more information, visit the The Network for Public Health Law.
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State Legislatures Address Elder Abuse
Several states have pending legislation addressing elder abuse, including strengthening laws against financial exploitation and expanding mandatory reporting, or establishing the requirement for it (Colorado). The other states are Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, and Texas. A list of newly enacted state laws of which NAPSRC is aware will be provided in the next issue of this newsletter.
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