Georgia lawmakers this year handed seniors and their advocates
several victories in their fight against the growing problem of elder
abuse. Among them are tougher background checks for caretakers and a new
statewide elder-abuse registry.
A new law will require employees
with direct access to residents in nursing homes and other licensed
senior care communities to clear an FBI fingerprint background check.
The measure will help home care providers find out if applicants have
been abusive in previous positions, and weed out current employees with a
history of abuse.
That information will be put on a statewide elder-abuse registry so
that anyone wanting to hire a caretaker can check the database.
The
measure won’t kick in until 2021, giving elder-care facilities three
years to complete comprehensive background checks on current employees
and set up the procedure for new hires. The registry will be created
immediately using a federal grant.
Advocates for the aged have long wanted to create a registry to
prevent the hiring of caretakers with a known history of abusing
vulnerable adults.
“There’s certainly room to improve it after
it’s in place, but it’s a great start just getting the comprehensive
background checks,” said Kathy Floyd, executive director of theGeorgia Council on Aging.
Currently,
licensed care facilities are required to conduct a limited one-state
and one-name background check on employees. The tighter scrutiny would
close loopholes and catch offenders from other states or those who may
have changed their name.
Georgia is one of only a few states that
doesn’t already mandate fingerprinting, said Heather Strickland,
assistant special agent for at-risk adults for theGeorgia Bureau of Investigation.
“This will certainly help and make sure those working with the elderly don’t have a past history of abuse,” Strickland said.
Advocates
for the aged made elder abuse and the registry top legislative
priorities this year. Vicki Johnson, chair of the Georgia Council on
Aging, called the outcome “a great victory for seniors.”
“Both the
council and CO-AGE have worked over the years to ensure that older
adults, disabled persons and other vulnerable populations are safe and
protected from exploitation,” Johnson said.
The state’s senior population, at 11 percent now, continues to grow. And with it has been an explosive growth in elder abuse.
Since
2010, reports of elder abuse have increased 550 percent, according to
the Georgia Council on Aging. Yet only a small portion of these crimes
are ever reported, said GBI Director Vernon Keenan.
Nationwide,
it’s estimated that one in 10 older Americans are victims of elder
abuse, neglect or exploitation, and that for every case of elder abuse,
23.5 cases go unreported, according to theNational Center on Elder Abuse.
For
the past five years, state legislators have increased funding for Adult
Protective Services caseworkers, hired additional GBI agents to focus
on elder-abuse crimes, and set aside funds for an elder-abuse attorney
to prosecute cases. Lawmakers have also increased training for law
enforcement through the Division of Aging and stiffened penalties on
unlicensed personal care homes.
Two other bills to combat elder abuse were also passed by lawmakers
this year. One is a trafficking bill that will crack down on personal
care home operators who prey on elderly and at-risk adults in need of
housing. In many cases, these adults are forced to live in substandard
housing in exchange for turning over all of their Social Security
benefits or other financial allowances, Floyd said.
Another bill
passed will allow for better coordination and communication between law
enforcement and Adult Protective Services on sensitive abuse cases. The
goal is to have multidisciplinary teams working together to form an
elder-abuse task force in each judicial district.
ENGAGE with CO-AGE
Georgia Council on Aging volunteers will host meetings in communities
across the state April 16-20 to share updates from the legislative
session and discuss upcoming senior issues.
Meetings in metro Atlanta include:
• Wesley Woods Towers; Monday, April 16, 10-11 a.m., Wesley Woods Towers, 1825 Clifton Road, Atlanta.
• Clairmont Oaks; Monday, April 16, 2-3 p.m., Clairmont Oaks, 441 Clairemont Ave., Decatur.
• Forsyth County Senior Services, Thursday, April 19, 2-3 p.m., Forsyth County Senior Services, 595 Dahlonega St., Cumming.
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Stopping elder abuse is the goal of Georgia legislative measures
States are starting to step up to tackle elder abuse. I'm glad to see this in Georgia.
ReplyDeleteI hope people show up to the meetings.
ReplyDelete