News Article

DOJ, HHS Release Elder Justice Roadmap

July 09, 2014

Today, the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services released the Elder Justice Roadmap - a detailed, practical guide "by the field, for the field" to engage in strategic planning to create coordinated approaches to addressing elder abuse. This unprecedented effort gathered input from public and private entities, experts from across the United States, and hundreds of people who address elder abuse and have a role to play in detecting and preventing it. The Roadmap reflects the knowledge and perspectives of these experts and will be considered by the Elder Jusice Coordinating Council and others in developing their own plans to prevent and address elder abuse.

The Roadmap highlights five top priorities critical to understanding and reducing elder abuse and to promoting health, independence, and justice for older adults:

1. Awareness: Increase public awareness of elder abuse, which requires a holistic, well-coordinated response in services, education, policy, and research.

2. Brain health: Conduct research and enhance focus on cognitive (in)capacity and mental health - critical factors both for victims and perpetrators.

3. Caregiving: Provide better support and training for the tens of millions of paid and unpaid caregivers who play a critical role in preventing elder abuse.

4. Economics: Quantify the costs of elder abuse, which is often entwined with financial incentives and comes with huge fiscal costs to victims, families, and society.

5. Resources: Strategically invest more resources in services, education, policy development, research, and expanding knowledge to reduce elder abuse.

The Elder Justice Roadmap can be used to raise awareness, identify the priorities most appropriate for you/your organization, engage new partners, and develop concrete plans of action to combat elder abuse.

The Consumer Voice/National LTC Ombudsman Resource Center participated as subject matter experts for the Roadmap, and is a member of the Roadmap's Interim Steering Committee.

For more information, see the Administration for Community Living press release.  Comments and feedback are welcome and should be sent to elderjusticeroadmap@gmail.com.