Interagency Coordination

Cases in which elder abuse may be occurring commonly entail multiple issues with potential impact on those cases. The court’s response to elder abuse therefore is likely to be most effective if the court taps into the resources and expertise of other community stakeholders working to address elder abuse. These stakeholders may include law enforcement, prosecution, social services, adult protective services, long term care ombudsman programs, mental health agencies, the medical community, and other agencies and organizations in the community that provide services for older people.

The court can play a pivotal role in bringing together the key stakeholders to build a coordinated community response to elder abuse, neglect and exploitation. Problem solving courts have used this approach in addressing substance abuse, mental health, and other difficult problems that cut across multiple professional domains. Several jurisdictions have implemented innovative programs, such as California’s elder protection courts, the 13th Judicial Circuit’s Elder Justice Center Program and the Palm Beach County Elder Justice Center in Florida, to address the complexities of elder abuse. All of these initiatives entail interagency coordination.

In addition, the American Bar Association “Recommended Guidelines for State Courts Handling Cases Involving Elder Abuse” include five recommendations related to coordination between the courts and other community resources.

Coordination  of State Judicial System with Other Community Resources

                   Recommendation 24.   Courts should: encourage and support the development and continuing  operation of a state of local task force or coordinating council on elder abuse  issues; lend their support to existing task forces or coordinating councils on  elder abuse; or encourage evolving or existing task forces or coordinating  councils on family violence to incorporate elder abuse advocates into their  membership and elder abuse issues into their agenda.
Recommendation 25. Courts should include APS and  aging services on court advisory councils or develop other mechanisms for  establishing linkages with those organizations and others that address elder  abuse. 
Recommendation 26. Courts should encourage and  support the development and continued operation of multidisciplinary teams on  elder abuse. 
Recommendation 27. Courts should encourage and  support the development of protocols or memoranda of understanding between  various entities involved in elder abuse cases as to their roles and  relationships. 
Recommendation 28. Judges and court personnel should  have familiarity with APS, aging and social services providers in their  community or brochures or other materials from those agencies so that they can  direct an older abused person to appropriate service providers. 
Recommendation 29. Courts should encourage and support the  development of a "court social worker" or "court ombudsman"  program using trained volunteers to help older, disabled, incapacitated or  other individuals by giving them information about social services and other  community organizations; linking, rather than just referring, them to social  services and other community organizations; assisting them with the completion  of pro se documents; and helping them to understand the nature of the  court process.

                   

Additional Online Resources

10 Tips for Creating an Elder Justice Center
10 Tips for Creating an Elder Protection Court
10 Tips for Implementing the ABA Recommended Guidelines for Handling Cases Involving Elder Abuse
Identifying and Responding to Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation: A Benchcard for Judges
American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging
Effective Court Practice for Abused Elders
National Council on Aging