News Briefs

Domestic violence victims get new address

North Carolina is providing a new protection to victims of domestic violence who are trying to shield their whereabouts from their abusers. Beginning January 1, 2003, the Attorney General’s office will provide a mail-forwarding service to these victims, allowing them to give the state Justice Department’s address as their own. The law requires all state agencies to so list the victim’s address, as well.

California clergy members made mandatory reporters

California clergy members will be mandated elder abuse reporters in California as of January 1, 2003. The new law says, "’Clergy member’ means a priest, minister, rabbi, religious practitioner, or similar functionary of a church, synagogue, temple, mosque, or recognized religious denomination or organization. ‘Clergy member’ does not include unpaid volunteers whose principal occupation or vocation does not involve active or ordained ministry in a church, synagogue, temple, mosque, or recognized religious denomination or organization, and who periodically visit elder or dependent adults on behalf of that church, synagogue, temple, mosque, or recognized religious denomination or organization.”

One-third of state’s domestic murder victims age 50+

Wisconsin’s Domestic Homicide Report discusses the 41 lives claimed by domestic violence in the state in 2000. Eight were male suicides after homicide of a female partner along with, in some instances, a child. Of the 33 murders, 20 were women, 9 were men, and 4 were children. Most interesting from the elder abuse perspective, 11 of the murders -- a full one-third -- were of people aged 50 and older. Three of those “elders” were killed by their adult children. Four of the eight homicides-suicides were committed by people over age 50 against victims over age 50.

Those who do public education and advocacy on domestic violence might want to get a copy of this report from the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence at 1-608-255-0539. The report’s format -- the murder victims listed by date of death, name/s, age/s, and locations, accompanied by a paragraph to four on the circumstances of the death/s and outcomes of any prosecutions -- makes it an electrifyingly effective advocacy tool.

Florida’s business community critical of APS

Florida’s business community took notice of the state’s adult protective services crisis in an October feature in Florida Trend: Florida’s Source for Business News. The article, “DCF’s Other Problem: Child abuse cases have the spotlight, but the state has quietly slid into a crisis involving abuse of its elderly citizens as well,” says that while APS reports increased 41% over the past four years, the overall Department of Children and Families adult services budget during that time declined by 4%. The feature also alleges, “political heat on children’s issues this year led DCF managers to siphon resources away from seniors temporarily...some districts’ adult-protection units were understaffed by as much as 50% this summer.” Samara Navarro, the new (as of May 2002) director of the adult services program is positively characterized as a “longtime elder advocate who came up through the inspector general’s side of DCF” and who has “made clear [to district supervisors] they’re to get rid of investigators who can’t cut it performance-wise.”
Despite being positive about Navarro, the magazine says she is going to have a difficult job “convincing lawmakers that the adult side of DCF needs as much help as the children’s side.” They conclude there’s an “irony” in the fact that “a commission recently appointed by the governor is looking for ways to recruit affluent elderly retirees to a state that can’t protect them if they become vulnerable.”
The article is available at http://www.floridatrend.com/issue/default.asp?a=4718&s=1&d=10/1/2002/.

Texas nursing homes’ quality level drops

Texas nursing homes’ quality level slid slightly between 2000 and 2002, according to a new report by the minority staff of the Special Investigations Division of the Committee on Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2002, 86% of nursing homes failed to be in full or substantial (defined as having deficiencies rated as having the potential to cause no more than minimal harm) compliance, compared to 84% in 2000. Thirty-nine percent (39%) of homes were found to have actual harm deficiencies or worse; forty-seven (47%) had potential-to-harm violations. The average number of deficiencies among those who were out of full or substantial compliance was 9.8.

Ninety percent (90%) of homes failed to meet the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ recommended staffing levels, putting Texas 43rd in state rankings of how many nursing care hours are available to residents per day. Interestingly, the report compared the homes that met staffing minimums with those that did not, and found that those that failed to meet minimum staffing standards were more than three times as likely to have actual harm violations as those that did meet the standards. The report, “Nursing Home Conditions in Texas: Many Nursing Homes Fail to Meet Federal Standards for Adequate Care,” is available for downloading at http://www.house.gov/reform/min/pdfs/pdf_inves/pdf_nursing_TX_rep2.pdf/.