Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel visiting Oakland County during Elder Abuse Listening Tour

By Mark Cavitt

Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks during a press conference on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 at the Frank Kelley Law Library in the Williams Building in Lansing, Mich. Nessel gave updates on Michigan State University, the catholic church and Flint water investigations. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel will join with two Michigan Supreme Court justices during her 10-city Elder Abuse Listening Tour.

The listening tour will provide a brief overview of the state's new Elder Abuse Task Force and give seniors the opportunity to provide feedback and offer comments to help the task force address the issue of elder abuse, which often goes unreported and unrecognized.

According to the Attorney General's Office, more than 73,000 older adults in Michigan are victims of elder abuse. They experience physical abuse, financial exploitation, emotional abuse, or neglect.

Nessel said the listening tour is about providing a voice to those who don’t often have a chance to speak up and speak out.

“We want to hear directly from our state’s seniors about the issues and challenges they face so we can make certain our new task force is prepared to properly address the troubling issue of elder abuse," said Nessel.

Justices Megan Cavanagh and Richard Bernstein will join Nessel is hearing from Michigan's seniors during the tour, which has a scheduled stop in Farmington on Tuesday, July 23.

Listening tour stops

• Grand Rapids - 1 p.m. Friday, June 14 at Kent County Courthouse
• Traverse City - 10:30 a.m. Friday, June 21 at Traverse Area District Library
• Benton Harbor – 10 a.m. Monday, July 8 at the Berrien County Health Department
• Kalamazoo – 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 9 at the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home
• New Baltimore – 9 a.m. Monday, July 22 at the 42^nd District Court
• Ann Arbor – 2:30 p.m. Monday, July 22 at Washtenaw Community College
• Farmington – 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 23 at the Farmington Community Library

The Attorney General’s Elder Abuse Task Force, which was formed in March, is made up of nearly 50 different organizations including law enforcement, state agencies, the Michigan House, Senate and Congressional delegation, and advocacy groups.

The task force's initiatives, of which nine have already been created, include requiring professional guardians to become certified, developing statutory basic rights for families, reviewing the process of a guardian removing a ward from his or her home, and limiting the number of wards per guardian.

Michigan residents are being urged to report any signs or concerns about elder abuse to Nessel's office, which has established an elder abuse hotline for anonymous tips: 844-24-ABUSE (844-242-2873) or online at www.mi.gov/elderabuse.

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Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel visiting Oakland County during Elder Abuse Listening Tour