National Elder Abuse Action Agenda, Proceedings Released

In December, 2001, a groundbreaking National Policy Summit on Elder Abuse was held in Washington, D.C. Approximately 80 leading elder abuse experts and key stakeholder organization representatives met to hash out a consensus agenda for where the elder abuse field should be headed, policy-wise.

The results of that historic meeting have now been published by the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), which, with funding from the U.S. Administration on Aging and the U.S. Department of Justice, sponsored the event.

“National Action Agenda, 2002: Call to Action to Protect America’s Most Vulnerable Elders” is a slick, 4-page document that presents not only concise versions of the top ten of the Summit’s 21 recommendations, but also a succinct list of actions policymakers and others can take to begin implementing the priority recommendations. Those ten priorities are:

1. Support National Elder Abuse Act
2. Mount a national education and awareness effort
3. Improve the legal landscape by strengthening elder abuse laws
4. Develop and implement a national elder abuse training curriculum
5. Ensure age-appropriate, specialized mental health services are available and accessible
6. Commission General Accounting Office study
7. Increase awareness within justice system
8. Establish a National Institute on Aging research and program innovation institute
9. Invest in a national resource center on Adult Protective Services
10. Seek Presidential executive order

(Note that priorities “one” and “two” were actually tied for the top priority slot.)

This document was apparently prepared to accompany advocacy letters to Congress, state legislators, and others who are in a position to implement some of the recommended actions. It is available for downloading at http://www.elderabusecenter.org/agenda/agenda2002.pdf (note, however, that this version currently has some formatting problems). Printed copies can be ordered from NCEA for $1.00 each ($.50 each for orders over 50); see below for ordering information.

For those who are interested in more detail on the findings, process, and participants in the Policy Summit, an extensive “The National Policy Summit on Elder Abuse: Creating the Action Agenda – Proceedings” has also been published. This 117-page document includes the full text of both the top ten and remaining eleven policy priorities; a discussion of how the Summit was organized; a memoriam to Rosalie S. Wolf, Ph.D., to whom the Summit was dedicated; text of keynotes from John W. Gillis, Director of the Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice, and from Edwin Walker, Director of Program Operations and Development at the U.S. Administration on Aging; and short biographies and contact information for the Summit participants.

The bulk of this report summarizes the discussions of each of the seven working groups: filling service gaps; educating the public; training professionals; enhancing Adult Protective Services; increasing prosecution; maximizing resources; and eliminating policy barriers. Although each group tackled its mandate in a different way, most of these topic chapters include further descriptions of the barriers and gaps preventing effective policies in that area, a list of stakeholders that need to be brought in to achieve change, and discussions of what, specifically, needs to happen.

Perhaps one of the most interesting features of the report is a short chapter on the issues that came up in several of the different topic groups, “Cross-Cutting Issues.” It is reprinted in its entirety below.

Although each of the seven working groups at the summit had a distinct topic, we anticipated that the recommendations the groups would come up with would, in some cases, overlap. In addition, we asked each group to discuss certain cross-cutting issues (including addressing cultural diversity and promoting multidisciplinary collaboration) as they applied to their particular topic.

Looking at both the recommendations and discussion notes generated by the seven groups, a number of cross-cutting themes emerged. These are:

• Federal legislation and/or leadership
  Clearly, the summit participants felt that the federal government needed to get more involved in addressing elder abuse. Nine of the 21 recommendations coming out of the summit, including six of the top ten, explicitly call for federal legislation or leadership. Many recommendations imply the need for federal leadership.
• Funding for services
  Clearly, adequate funding for adult protective services was a priority for the summit. The need for adequate funding for additional supportive services needed by abused and at-risk elders was explicitly discussed in the majority of the working groups.
• Research
  Seven of the summit’s 21 recommendations, including four of the top ten, mentioned the need for research. Most frequently, the specific type of research the summit participants felt was most necessary was outcome research: What works? What doesn’t?
• Training
  Six of the 21 recommendations, including three of the top ten, explicitly address training needs. The need for training adult protective services workers and/or other professionals came up in at least five topic groups: filling service gaps, educating the public, training professionals, enhancing adult protective services, and increasing prosecution.
• Public education
  Only two of the recommendations explicitly addressed public education (a third was aimed at educating policy makers), but the topic came up in the discussions of at least four of the topic groups: educating the public, enhancing adult protective services, increasing prosecution, and maximizing resources.
• Framing elder abuse within a larger context
  One of the two top (tied) recommendations coming out of the summit specifically asks the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recognize elder abuse as a public health and public safety issue. At least two other working groups also discussed framing elder abuse as part of a larger issue. The suggestions these groups made include framing it as a “safety at home” issue, discussing it in cost/benefit terms, and looking at what costs are involved in providing health care services and law enforcement services to abused elders.
• Vulnerable adult abuse
  The summit was specifically described as focusing on elder abuse. However, at least four of the working groups explicitly discussed policies that would extend to vulnerable adults, i.e., those non-elderly adults who are vulnerable to abuse or neglect because of physical, cognitive, or developmental disabilities. Also noted was the importance of establishing a dialogue for exploring the areas of agreement and disagreement on policy and program interventions among the elder abuse and disability networks.
• Confidentiality
  At least four groups discussed how various confidentiality laws and professional codes put constraints on providing services to abused and at-risk elders. The increasing prosecution working group particularly focused on this issue.
• Find new funding
  Two groups specifically discussed raising funds for elder abuse education or services by increasing the fees for licensing professionals who work with elders. Another group discussed adding a fee to death certificates as a way of generating funds. Another working group suggested imposing fines on those convicted of elder abuse, and looking into the feasibility of a fundraising stamp.

Hard copies of the Proceedings are available for $10.00 from NCEA (see below for ordering information). The document is also available for download at http://www.elderabusecenter.org/whatnew/proceedings.pdf/.

To order hard copies of the documents, contact:
The National Center on Elder Abuse
C/o The National Association of State Units on Aging
1201 15th Street, N.W., Suite 350 Washington, D.C., 20005
202-898-2586
ncea@nasua.org