White House World Elder Abuse Awareness Day Commemoration

On June 14 the White House Office of Public Engagement held a day-long symposium on Elder Abuse & Financial Exploitation. This event, hosted in collaboration with the Administration for Community Living/Department of Health and Human Services, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Department of Justice, brought together partners and elder abuse experts from around the country to discuss preventing and responding to financial exploitation. Featured speakers included representatives from the federal government, the banking industry, and national elder abuse experts.

Several federal initiatives were announced including:

  • DHHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will convene the first Elder Justice Coordinating Council meeting, as called for in the Elder Justice Act enacted as part of the health care law. The council, comprised of federal agencies that have responsibilities or programs related to elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, will work to address the cross-agency coordination of activities relating to elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.
     
  • Deputy Attorney General James Cole announced the “Missing Link Project,” a new collaborative effort by the Department’s Elder Justice Initiative, Office for Victims of Crime, and Access to Justice Initiative to develop such training materials for legal services providers. Legal Services Corporation President, James Sandman, has pledged that when the training has been developed, it will be made available to all LSC programs, which together provide critically needed services to every county in this country.
     
  • The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a public inquiry to learn more about the many ways in which older Americans are financially exploited and about the best practices for elder financial management.
     
  • The Social Security Administration shared initiatives to protect individual personal identifying information (PII) and a “Centarian Review” initiative.

A new coalition launched at the event, the Ageless Alliance United Against Elder Abuse, a grassroots movement connecting people of all age groups to identify, prevent and eliminate elder abuse. (www.agelessalliance.org).

Symposium Agenda

 Opening Session

 

Panel 1

Laura Mosqueda, Director of Geriatrics, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine; Rebeca Rangel, Senior Vice President, Community Affairs Manager, Bank of the West; Dianne Shovely, Vice President of Fraud Services, Financial Intelligence Department, Comerica Bank; and Elaine Dodd, Vice President, Fraud Division, Oklahoma Bankers Association.

 

Panel 2

Mark Lachs, Co-Chief, Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Weill Medical College, Cornell University; Page Ulrey, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, King County, Washington; Ricker Hamilton, Director, Office of Elder Services, Maine Department of Health and Human Services; Charles Harwood, Deputy Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission; Marie-Therese Connolly, Senior Scholar, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

 

Closing Session

 

Additional Resources

National Center on Elder Abuse, Take A Stand Against Elder Abuse
Includes public awareness tools such as tip sheets for involvement and prevention and fact sheets covering topics such as red flags for recognizing elder abuse and 11 things anyone can do to prevent elder abuse.
Ageless Alliance United Against Elder Abuse
The Alliance website includes videos, tips, resources, and tools for preventing and responding to elder abuse.