Preventing Elder Abuse: The Texas Plan for a Coordinated Service Delivery System. Collaborative Elder Abuse Prevention Project.

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Office of Human Development Services (DHHS), Washington, DC.

Cooperative Programs; Elder Abuse; Family Violence; Institutional Cooperation; Long Range Planning; Management Systems; Master Plans; Older Adults; Prevention; Shared Resources and Services; State Action; State Programs; Statewide Planning

The Texas Department of Human Services, in collaboration with 13 other public and private organizations, co-sponsored a statewide Collaborative Elder Abuse Prevention project. The goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive, long-range plan for the prevention of elder abuse, a method for achieving a coordinated service delivery system for abused and neglected elders in Texas, and a statewide public awareness campaign to increase the public's ability to identify and report elder abuse and neglect. This document describes the accomplishments of the executive steering committee so far: (1) a long-range plan to address the essential needs of elderly and disabled adults; (2) the establishment of four subcommittees to recommend strategies for achieving the long-range plan; and (3) the negotiation and signing of interagency agreements that clarify the roles and responsibilities of each agency concerning investigations in facilities operated, licensed, certified, or registered by a state agency. The introduction provides a brief background and describes the scope of the program, while the second chapter describes components of the coordinated service delivery system. Sidebars provide three illustrative case histories of elder abuse involving caregiver neglect, physical abuse, and financial exploitation respectively. Appended are the mission statement and long- range plan, followed by corporate, nonprofit, professional, and legislative briefing subcommittee recommendations, and copies of significant memoranda. (TE)

1989

ED308417