http://moneyning.com/money-management/how-to-blow-10-million-dollars-in-10-years/?utm_medium=feed
by VERED DELEEUW
If you’re ever lucky enough to get a 10 million dollars windfall and feel like blowing it all in just a decade so that you end up with nothing, here’s what you should do:
1. Watch others, who have much more than you have, and emulate their lifestyles, trying to prove that you’re “just as good as they are.
2. Do not, under any circumstances, invest the money in a conservative mix of stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities and cash. Instead:
3. Go ahead and buy a huge house. Renovate it to the highest standards.
4. Buy a few vacation properties. Renovate them too.
5. Start a collection of expensive cars. Each car should cost at least $300,000.
6. Buy a few horses. Focus on expensive horses that cost around $200,000.
7. Indulge in $10,000 fur coats.
8. Go on frequent vacations. Stay at $1000-a-night hotels.
9. Snipped.
10. Snipped.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Broken Trust
A recent Congressional hearing and the poignant testimony of an unexpected victim — Mickey Rooney — have helped focus new attention on the abuse and exploitation of old people. Congress should seize the moment to help repair their threadbare web of protection.
The hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, as well as several recent studies, make clear that elder abuse is a growing problem that far outmatches the resources available to fight it.
One national study estimated that in the last year 14 percent of older adults had been neglected, abused or exploited. The numbers could be far higher since the sample did not include people living in institutions or those with significant mental impairments. A 2009 study on financial exploitation estimated that elderly victims lost at least $2.6 billion a year to fraud and abuse.
The loss of power and the isolation that come with age and infirmity make elders particularly vulnerable to abuse from unscrupulous caregivers but also, chillingly, from unscrupulous family members. “I felt trapped, scared, used and frustrated,” Mr. Rooney told the committee, saying he had been defrauded by “someone close.” “But, above all, I felt helpless.”
The cost, on top of the human suffering, is immense: in stolen and squandered savings; the strain on the court system from abusive guardianships; the cost to Medicare and Medicaid from fraud; and from the care of fleeced victims who end up destitute in nursing homes.
The solutions begin with filling the gaps in data collection and services. The Government Accountability Office found that in 25 of 39 states surveyed, financing for adult protective services had fallen or flat-lined in the last five years. Case workers are poorly trained and overwhelmed. The study also found that federal programs to fight abuse are scattered ineffectively across the Department of Health and Human Services. The report urged the department to create a resource center to collect and share abuse data among the states.
Only with coordinated efforts — like those urged by the offices and agencies created years ago to advocate for children and victims of domestic violence — will real progress be made. The committee’s chairman, Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, is sponsoring a bill to create an office of elder justice, in the Justice Department, to tighten reporting standards and definitions of elder abuse and to help states investigate cases and impose stricter protections for victims. Congress should pass it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/opinion/17thu2.html?_r=3&emc=eta1
The hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, as well as several recent studies, make clear that elder abuse is a growing problem that far outmatches the resources available to fight it.
One national study estimated that in the last year 14 percent of older adults had been neglected, abused or exploited. The numbers could be far higher since the sample did not include people living in institutions or those with significant mental impairments. A 2009 study on financial exploitation estimated that elderly victims lost at least $2.6 billion a year to fraud and abuse.
The loss of power and the isolation that come with age and infirmity make elders particularly vulnerable to abuse from unscrupulous caregivers but also, chillingly, from unscrupulous family members. “I felt trapped, scared, used and frustrated,” Mr. Rooney told the committee, saying he had been defrauded by “someone close.” “But, above all, I felt helpless.”
The cost, on top of the human suffering, is immense: in stolen and squandered savings; the strain on the court system from abusive guardianships; the cost to Medicare and Medicaid from fraud; and from the care of fleeced victims who end up destitute in nursing homes.
The solutions begin with filling the gaps in data collection and services. The Government Accountability Office found that in 25 of 39 states surveyed, financing for adult protective services had fallen or flat-lined in the last five years. Case workers are poorly trained and overwhelmed. The study also found that federal programs to fight abuse are scattered ineffectively across the Department of Health and Human Services. The report urged the department to create a resource center to collect and share abuse data among the states.
Only with coordinated efforts — like those urged by the offices and agencies created years ago to advocate for children and victims of domestic violence — will real progress be made. The committee’s chairman, Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, is sponsoring a bill to create an office of elder justice, in the Justice Department, to tighten reporting standards and definitions of elder abuse and to help states investigate cases and impose stricter protections for victims. Congress should pass it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/opinion/17thu2.html?_r=3&emc=eta1
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
People In the Know Speak Out about Guardianship Abuse and Fraud
"This [guardianship] is an area ripe for fraud and where most fraud abuse has in fact occurred." — Karleen F. DeBlaker, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Pinellas County, Florida (4/2004)
Reports of guardians stealing from their wards' bank accounts and other wise abusing guardianship powers are surfacing with disturbing regularity. 'This problem is going to get bigger and bigger,' says E. Bentley Lipscomb, AARP's Florida state director and a former state secretary of elder affairs. — GUARDIANS DRAWING INCREASED SCRUTINY, AARP Bulletin
It is a system that in practice often serves lawyers over clients. Even as the court's lax oversight allows guardians to neglect their responsibilities, it also permits some lawyers to take unnecessary control of people's lives. — Washington Post, 2003
Judges and their favored professional conservators and guardians, expert witnesses and court investigators have unspoken agendas: money, power and control. When an elderly individual is brought into court and forced to prove his or her competence, we soon see that the system does not work. We have a system rife with court-sanctioned abuse of the elderly. Why? Judges override protections that have been put in place in the codes. It happens every day. Judges disregard durable powers of attorney — the single most important document each of us can create to determine our care should we become incapacitated. Judges ignore our lists of pre-selected surrogate decision-makers. The current system does not work. This reality is most apparent when a wealthy individual falls victim to these involuntary proceedings and his or her wealth becomes a ripe plum to be shared by the Judge’s favorites. — Diane G. Armstrong, Ph.D., excerpt of prepared statement before the U.S. Senate's Special Committee on Aging, February, 2003. Author of The Retirement Nightmare: How to Save Yourself from Your Heirs and Protectors: Involuntary Conservatorships and Guardianships
The denial of these rights is the consequence of a court determination that an individual is legally "incompetent" or "incapacitated" and the appointment by the court of a guardian to act as surrogate decision maker on the person's behalf. The real tragedy is that mounting evidence suggests that many of these individuals having been stripped of their right to self-determination are being poorly served, and even victimized and exploited by the very persons or agencies appointed to protect them and to make decisions on their behalf. — House of Representatives, Select Committee on Aging Report
...guardianship can divest an elderly person of all the rights and freedoms we consider important as citizens. — Chairman of the Senate Special Committee, Larry Craig
"Ironically, the imposition of guardianship without adequate protections and oversight may actually result in the loss of liberty and property for the very persons these arrangements are intended to protect. — Chairman of the Senate Special Committee, Larry Craig
“Instead of serving to protect the assets of incapacitated persons, the existing guardianship system presents the opportunity for unscrupulous guardians to loot the assets of their wards and enrich themselves with impunity.” — New York Grand Jury
Elderly people are routinely stripped of basic rights in court hearings. — Detroit Free Press
"Outside of execution, guardianship is the most radical remedy we have." — Elias Cohen, Philadelphia Attorney and Gerontologist
The gulag of guardianship: the legal system meant to protect our elderly is a national disgrace. — Money Magazine
"... older Americans are being robbed of their freedom and life savings by a legal system created for their protection." and "Although relatives are the most common exploiters, the damage they cause generally stays within the confines of their own families. By contrast, greedy professional guardians can wreak havoc on a far larger scale. In many states, there are few prerequisites for entering the guardianship business: no special training, no licensing process, no enforceable professional standards." — AARP: The Magazine, January/February 2004
"These are not isolated, occasional blips. This constitutes a significant portion of the cases out there. They were flat-out rip-off situations." — Robert L. Aldridge, elder law attorney and a member of ElderLawAnswers.com
Re: forced incompetency: Visit assisted-living facilities [and retirement communities] and establish employee contacts; obtain voluntary limited financial guardianship; if there is money in the estate, do paperwork to force an evaluation of competency; get control over everything and the ward [senior] loses all rights. — Pinellas County Internal Auditor, Robert W. Melton, "Dirty Tricks of Guardianships – The Need for Change." April/2004
Once judged incompetent and placed under a conservatorship [or guardianship], a citizen becomes a nonperson, with fewer rights than a convicted felon in a penitentiary. Your income goes to the conservator, who also controls your assets. You can't write a check, use a credit card, or make an ATM withdrawal. — Robert Casey, Editor, Bloomberg Wealth Manager
"This is something that ought not to be taken lightly. Seniors have become victims of the legal process. When you become old, you should not, by the action of a court, automatically lose your rights just because some family member or impersonal administrator calls you incompetent." — Senator Larry Craig, Chairman, U.S. Senate's Special Committee on Aging. (February, 2003)
"[O]ne startling conclusion about the whole process of incompetency was drawn from the realization that in almost every case examined the aged incompetent was in a worse position after he was adjudicated incompetent than before. The study could identify no particular benefit which flowed to the incompetent that he could not have received without a finding of incompetency." G. Alexander & T. Lewin, The Aged and the Need for Surrogate Management, 136
Reports of guardians stealing from their wards' bank accounts and other wise abusing guardianship powers are surfacing with disturbing regularity. 'This problem is going to get bigger and bigger,' says E. Bentley Lipscomb, AARP's Florida state director and a former state secretary of elder affairs. — GUARDIANS DRAWING INCREASED SCRUTINY, AARP Bulletin
It is a system that in practice often serves lawyers over clients. Even as the court's lax oversight allows guardians to neglect their responsibilities, it also permits some lawyers to take unnecessary control of people's lives. — Washington Post, 2003
Judges and their favored professional conservators and guardians, expert witnesses and court investigators have unspoken agendas: money, power and control. When an elderly individual is brought into court and forced to prove his or her competence, we soon see that the system does not work. We have a system rife with court-sanctioned abuse of the elderly. Why? Judges override protections that have been put in place in the codes. It happens every day. Judges disregard durable powers of attorney — the single most important document each of us can create to determine our care should we become incapacitated. Judges ignore our lists of pre-selected surrogate decision-makers. The current system does not work. This reality is most apparent when a wealthy individual falls victim to these involuntary proceedings and his or her wealth becomes a ripe plum to be shared by the Judge’s favorites. — Diane G. Armstrong, Ph.D., excerpt of prepared statement before the U.S. Senate's Special Committee on Aging, February, 2003. Author of The Retirement Nightmare: How to Save Yourself from Your Heirs and Protectors: Involuntary Conservatorships and Guardianships
The denial of these rights is the consequence of a court determination that an individual is legally "incompetent" or "incapacitated" and the appointment by the court of a guardian to act as surrogate decision maker on the person's behalf. The real tragedy is that mounting evidence suggests that many of these individuals having been stripped of their right to self-determination are being poorly served, and even victimized and exploited by the very persons or agencies appointed to protect them and to make decisions on their behalf. — House of Representatives, Select Committee on Aging Report
...guardianship can divest an elderly person of all the rights and freedoms we consider important as citizens. — Chairman of the Senate Special Committee, Larry Craig
"Ironically, the imposition of guardianship without adequate protections and oversight may actually result in the loss of liberty and property for the very persons these arrangements are intended to protect. — Chairman of the Senate Special Committee, Larry Craig
“Instead of serving to protect the assets of incapacitated persons, the existing guardianship system presents the opportunity for unscrupulous guardians to loot the assets of their wards and enrich themselves with impunity.” — New York Grand Jury
Elderly people are routinely stripped of basic rights in court hearings. — Detroit Free Press
"Outside of execution, guardianship is the most radical remedy we have." — Elias Cohen, Philadelphia Attorney and Gerontologist
The gulag of guardianship: the legal system meant to protect our elderly is a national disgrace. — Money Magazine
"... older Americans are being robbed of their freedom and life savings by a legal system created for their protection." and "Although relatives are the most common exploiters, the damage they cause generally stays within the confines of their own families. By contrast, greedy professional guardians can wreak havoc on a far larger scale. In many states, there are few prerequisites for entering the guardianship business: no special training, no licensing process, no enforceable professional standards." — AARP: The Magazine, January/February 2004
"These are not isolated, occasional blips. This constitutes a significant portion of the cases out there. They were flat-out rip-off situations." — Robert L. Aldridge, elder law attorney and a member of ElderLawAnswers.com
Re: forced incompetency: Visit assisted-living facilities [and retirement communities] and establish employee contacts; obtain voluntary limited financial guardianship; if there is money in the estate, do paperwork to force an evaluation of competency; get control over everything and the ward [senior] loses all rights. — Pinellas County Internal Auditor, Robert W. Melton, "Dirty Tricks of Guardianships – The Need for Change." April/2004
Once judged incompetent and placed under a conservatorship [or guardianship], a citizen becomes a nonperson, with fewer rights than a convicted felon in a penitentiary. Your income goes to the conservator, who also controls your assets. You can't write a check, use a credit card, or make an ATM withdrawal. — Robert Casey, Editor, Bloomberg Wealth Manager
"This is something that ought not to be taken lightly. Seniors have become victims of the legal process. When you become old, you should not, by the action of a court, automatically lose your rights just because some family member or impersonal administrator calls you incompetent." — Senator Larry Craig, Chairman, U.S. Senate's Special Committee on Aging. (February, 2003)
"[O]ne startling conclusion about the whole process of incompetency was drawn from the realization that in almost every case examined the aged incompetent was in a worse position after he was adjudicated incompetent than before. The study could identify no particular benefit which flowed to the incompetent that he could not have received without a finding of incompetency." G. Alexander & T. Lewin, The Aged and the Need for Surrogate Management, 136
Probate Court: Offering Unequal Protection Under The Law by Rick Green
January 19, 2007
Welcome to the Hotel Connecticut. Come visit and you can never leave.
Because if you're elderly and frail and don't watch out, there's a probate court judge somewhere out there willing to lock you up in a nursing home. For your own good, of course, Grandma.
Unless something dramatic happens, another session of the General Assembly will slide by without probate reform. Oh, they'll hold hearings again, but don't bet on our elected leaders actually disrupting a system steeped in decades of old-boy politics and favoritism.
So this court system - where even the rules of evidence and recordkeeping are inconsistent and the legal experience of judges is uncertain - marches on, unimpeded.
The latest outrage-of-the-month comes from the Woodbridge probate district, where a judge last year denied a request by the children and husband of an elderly New Jersey woman, Maydelle Trambarulo, that she be allowed to leave a Connecticut nursing facility and return home.
Trambarulo was brought here for treatment in 2004 by a niece. Soon after, the niece went to probate court in Connecticut and had a conservator appointed to oversee her finances and health care, handing over the 76-year-old New Jersey woman's liberty - and control of her money - to probate.
"The husband is in New Jersey. The wife was brought here for rehabilitation by a relative. Then the relative had her conserved," said John Peters, a lawyer who won freedom for Daniel Gross, a Long Island man held against his will in a Waterbury nursing home.
Do I need to add that the Trambarulo estate is worth more than $1 million and that this fight, if nothing else, continues to provide thousands of dollars worth of work for lawyers?
It doesn't matter that this family could be a dysfunctional mess. It's not up to a Connecticut probate court to decide.
A former West Hartford probate judge who previously represented the Trambarulo family, John Berman, understood this when he said in court papers in December 2005 that the "court lacks jurisdiction to appoint a conservator."
Clifford D. Hoyle, the acting judge in Woodbridge, ruled, instead, that he was "not convinced that the respondent's family is willing to make the time commitments necessary to care for her."
Peters, now representing the Trambarulo family, told me that Maydelle "doesn't live here. The judge doesn't have jurisdiction. The fact that you are here doesn't mean you are a resident. She wants to go home."
Royal Stark, director of the health law clinic at the Quinnipiac University School of Law, said the legislature must limit the power that probate courts hand to conservators.
"Until I got a glimpse of it, I didn't realize what was at stake and how bad things could go," Stark said. For example, Stark said that once a person has been "conserved" by probate court, it is nearly impossible to remove the conservator.
Reform-minded lawyers want basic changes, such as mandating that courts respect previous requests made by the elderly, known as "advance directives." Courts should also follow the rules of evidence and proceedings should be conducted on the record. They also want to make it easier to appeal decisions.
"We are going to wade into it and see if there are solutions for it," promised state Sen. Andrew McDonald, the chairman of the judiciary committee. "A lot of this operates in the shadows."
There you have it - a court system that operates in the dark. Time to turn the lights on.
Welcome to the Hotel Connecticut. Come visit and you can never leave.
Because if you're elderly and frail and don't watch out, there's a probate court judge somewhere out there willing to lock you up in a nursing home. For your own good, of course, Grandma.
Unless something dramatic happens, another session of the General Assembly will slide by without probate reform. Oh, they'll hold hearings again, but don't bet on our elected leaders actually disrupting a system steeped in decades of old-boy politics and favoritism.
So this court system - where even the rules of evidence and recordkeeping are inconsistent and the legal experience of judges is uncertain - marches on, unimpeded.
The latest outrage-of-the-month comes from the Woodbridge probate district, where a judge last year denied a request by the children and husband of an elderly New Jersey woman, Maydelle Trambarulo, that she be allowed to leave a Connecticut nursing facility and return home.
Trambarulo was brought here for treatment in 2004 by a niece. Soon after, the niece went to probate court in Connecticut and had a conservator appointed to oversee her finances and health care, handing over the 76-year-old New Jersey woman's liberty - and control of her money - to probate.
"The husband is in New Jersey. The wife was brought here for rehabilitation by a relative. Then the relative had her conserved," said John Peters, a lawyer who won freedom for Daniel Gross, a Long Island man held against his will in a Waterbury nursing home.
Do I need to add that the Trambarulo estate is worth more than $1 million and that this fight, if nothing else, continues to provide thousands of dollars worth of work for lawyers?
It doesn't matter that this family could be a dysfunctional mess. It's not up to a Connecticut probate court to decide.
A former West Hartford probate judge who previously represented the Trambarulo family, John Berman, understood this when he said in court papers in December 2005 that the "court lacks jurisdiction to appoint a conservator."
Clifford D. Hoyle, the acting judge in Woodbridge, ruled, instead, that he was "not convinced that the respondent's family is willing to make the time commitments necessary to care for her."
Peters, now representing the Trambarulo family, told me that Maydelle "doesn't live here. The judge doesn't have jurisdiction. The fact that you are here doesn't mean you are a resident. She wants to go home."
Royal Stark, director of the health law clinic at the Quinnipiac University School of Law, said the legislature must limit the power that probate courts hand to conservators.
"Until I got a glimpse of it, I didn't realize what was at stake and how bad things could go," Stark said. For example, Stark said that once a person has been "conserved" by probate court, it is nearly impossible to remove the conservator.
Reform-minded lawyers want basic changes, such as mandating that courts respect previous requests made by the elderly, known as "advance directives." Courts should also follow the rules of evidence and proceedings should be conducted on the record. They also want to make it easier to appeal decisions.
"We are going to wade into it and see if there are solutions for it," promised state Sen. Andrew McDonald, the chairman of the judiciary committee. "A lot of this operates in the shadows."
There you have it - a court system that operates in the dark. Time to turn the lights on.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Devon Bank Trust Department Liquidating Assets of their Clients
When you open up a trust account at Devon Bank, they liquidate all your assets into cash. If you have a gold coin collection, jewelry, stock portfolio, bonds, annuities (or planned well for your retirement and are living off the interest of your investment portfolio), the trustees will sell everything then invest your money into bank stocks. (I'm looking at all their clients and they're not making them any money.)
What do they get out of this? Why are they investing money into Washington Mutual, Bank of India, Federal National Mortgage, etc.? The client makes nothing on interest so why do they even bother?
If you have personal property (like jewelry, coins, a car, etc.) that have sentimental value, too bad for you. The trustees at Devon Bank liquidate all your assets whether you like it or not. (I'm sure Rick Block and Sally Griffin wouldn't like it if their personal property was being sold, they're thanking their lucky stars they don't have themselves as Guardians of their Estate).
I don't understand it? My college education is accounting (and their accounting mistakes alone give me nightmares) and I can't figure out what they're getting out of liquidating someone's portfolio only to invest in bank stocks that yeild nothing in return for the investment? (1-4% in interest, really.) What am I missing?
I'll publish a list of banks that Devon Bank invests their clients money into next week when I have more time.
What do they get out of this? Why are they investing money into Washington Mutual, Bank of India, Federal National Mortgage, etc.? The client makes nothing on interest so why do they even bother?
If you have personal property (like jewelry, coins, a car, etc.) that have sentimental value, too bad for you. The trustees at Devon Bank liquidate all your assets whether you like it or not. (I'm sure Rick Block and Sally Griffin wouldn't like it if their personal property was being sold, they're thanking their lucky stars they don't have themselves as Guardians of their Estate).
I don't understand it? My college education is accounting (and their accounting mistakes alone give me nightmares) and I can't figure out what they're getting out of liquidating someone's portfolio only to invest in bank stocks that yeild nothing in return for the investment? (1-4% in interest, really.) What am I missing?
I'll publish a list of banks that Devon Bank invests their clients money into next week when I have more time.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
New GAO Report - Elder Justice
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11208.pdf
ELDER JUSTICE
Stronger Federal Leadership Could Enhance National Response to Elder Abuse
What GAO Found
The most recent study of the extent of elder abuse estimated that 14.1 percent of noninstitutionalized older adults had experienced physical, psychological, or sexual abuse; neglect; or financial exploitation in the past year. This study and three other key studies GAO identified likely underestimate the full extent of elder abuse, however. Most did not ask about all types of abuse or include all types of older adults living in the community, such as those with cognitive impairments. In addition, studies in this area cannot be used to track changes in extent over time because they have not measured elder abuse consistently.
Based on existing research, various factors appear to place older adults at greater risk of abuse. Physical and cognitive impairments, mental problems, and low social support among victims have been associated with an increased likelihood of elder abuse. Elder abuse has also been associated with negative effects on victims’ health and longevity.
Although state APS programs vary in their organization and eligibility criteria, they face many of the same challenges. According to program officials, elder abuse caseloads are growing nationwide and cases are increasingly complex and difficult to resolve. However, according to GAO’s survey, APS program resources are not keeping pace with these changes. As a result, program officials noted that it is difficult to maintain adequate staffing levels and training. In addition, states indicated they have limited access to information on interventions and practices on how to resolve elder abuse cases, and may struggle to respond to abuse cases appropriately. Many APS programs also face challenges in collecting, maintaining, and reporting statewide case-level administrative data, thereby hampering their ability to track outcomes and assess the effectiveness of services provided.
Federal elder justice activities have addressed some APS challenges, but leadership in this area is lacking. Seven agencies within the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Justice devoted a total of $11.9 million in grants for elder justice activities in fiscal year 2009. These activities have promoted collaboration among APS and its partners, such as law enforcement, but have not offered APS the support it says it needs for resolving elder abuse cases and standardizing the information it reports. Although the Older Americans Act of 1965 has called attention to the importance of federal leadership in the elder justice area, no national policy priorities currently exist. The Administration on Aging in HHS is charged with providing such leadership, but its efforts to do so have been limited. The Elder Justice Act of 2009 authorizes grants to states for their APS programs and provides a vehicle for establishing and implementing national priorities in this area, but does not address national elder abuse incidence studies.
ELDER JUSTICE
Stronger Federal Leadership Could Enhance National Response to Elder Abuse
What GAO Found
The most recent study of the extent of elder abuse estimated that 14.1 percent of noninstitutionalized older adults had experienced physical, psychological, or sexual abuse; neglect; or financial exploitation in the past year. This study and three other key studies GAO identified likely underestimate the full extent of elder abuse, however. Most did not ask about all types of abuse or include all types of older adults living in the community, such as those with cognitive impairments. In addition, studies in this area cannot be used to track changes in extent over time because they have not measured elder abuse consistently.
Based on existing research, various factors appear to place older adults at greater risk of abuse. Physical and cognitive impairments, mental problems, and low social support among victims have been associated with an increased likelihood of elder abuse. Elder abuse has also been associated with negative effects on victims’ health and longevity.
Although state APS programs vary in their organization and eligibility criteria, they face many of the same challenges. According to program officials, elder abuse caseloads are growing nationwide and cases are increasingly complex and difficult to resolve. However, according to GAO’s survey, APS program resources are not keeping pace with these changes. As a result, program officials noted that it is difficult to maintain adequate staffing levels and training. In addition, states indicated they have limited access to information on interventions and practices on how to resolve elder abuse cases, and may struggle to respond to abuse cases appropriately. Many APS programs also face challenges in collecting, maintaining, and reporting statewide case-level administrative data, thereby hampering their ability to track outcomes and assess the effectiveness of services provided.
Federal elder justice activities have addressed some APS challenges, but leadership in this area is lacking. Seven agencies within the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Justice devoted a total of $11.9 million in grants for elder justice activities in fiscal year 2009. These activities have promoted collaboration among APS and its partners, such as law enforcement, but have not offered APS the support it says it needs for resolving elder abuse cases and standardizing the information it reports. Although the Older Americans Act of 1965 has called attention to the importance of federal leadership in the elder justice area, no national policy priorities currently exist. The Administration on Aging in HHS is charged with providing such leadership, but its efforts to do so have been limited. The Elder Justice Act of 2009 authorizes grants to states for their APS programs and provides a vehicle for establishing and implementing national priorities in this area, but does not address national elder abuse incidence studies.
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