Wyden supports legislation that would add elder abuse investigators

US Sen. Ron Wyden

PORTLAND — During a Friday speech, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden threw his support behind plans to save a stalled piece of federal legislation that could give states $100 million to hire new elder abuse investigators at a time when their caseload is at an all-time high.

“It’s clear right now the U.S. Congress is having problems ordering a Coca-Cola,” Wyden, D-Ore., said as he addressed the National Adult Protective Services’ Fifth Annual Elder Abuse Summit in Portland. “But we can pull out all the stops and get that done.” 

First drafted in 2002, the Elder Justice Act provides federal funding to state adult protective services programs that protect vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities and often serve on the front lines in the war on elder abuse. 

The current version of the law — which provides $100 million of support to the country’s adult protective services programs — was attached to the Affordable Care Act and became law when President Barack Obama signed that package of health care reforms in March 2010. 

“Despite the fact this law passed four years ago, there has not been a single penny allocated to (hiring new investigators),” said Bill Benson, the national policy adviser for the National Adult Protective Services Association , explaining a “terrible climate in Washington” has kept the act from being funded and could lead to its disappearance altogether.

The need

According to a recent report, Oregon’s 160 adult protective services investigators received 28,449 “calls of concern” reporting a suspected case of elder abuse in 2013. They substantiated, or found enough evidence to prove abuse occurred, 4,221 of these cases last year.

This number of substantiated cases — which includes 152 substantiated cases of elder abuse in Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson counties — represents a 36 percent increase from the number of substantiated cases the agency handled in 2012. Central Oregon saw a 30 percent increase in its substantiated cases of elder abuse between 2012 and 2013, according to the report.

“Most of our cases are getting more and more complex and we know our caseloads are only going to get bigger,” said Marie Cervantes, director of Oregon’s Office of Adult Abuse Prevention and Investigations.

The report also found the state’s total number of substantiated financial exploitation or financial abuse cases increased by 31 percent between 2010 and 2013 

Cervantes said these cases — which make up 25 to 40 percent of her agency’s caseload each year — can sometimes take two to three weeks longer than the typical elder abuse case to investigate because they involve complicated financial transactions and gathering evidence from many banks and lending institutions. 

A typical elder abuse case takes 30 to 45 days from start to finish, she added, explaining her investigators often spend two or three days just building up a trusting relationship with an alleged victim that allows them to move forward with a case.

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Wyden supports legislation that would add elder abuse investigators