New Report on National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP) Outcome Evaluation

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) recently completed a two part evaluation of the Older Americans Act Title III-E National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP). The newest report, Outcome Evaluation of the National Family Caregiver Support Program, is now available.

The NFCSP Outcome Evaluation focused on the following questions:

• What types of organizational structures and/or approaches for NFCSP services are associated with the best participant-level outcomes?
• Are services reaching the groups targeted by the Older Americans Act (OAA), including caregivers serving older adults with greatest social or economic need?
• To what extent do NFCSP participants also receive other home- and community-based long-term support and services?
• To what extent do NFCSP caregivers’ outcomes differ from those of caregivers who do not receive support and services from the NFCSP?

The two-part NFCSP evaluation includes a final process evaluation report, as well as examples of assessment tools collected from State Units in Aging:

Community Assessment Materials (PDF, 14.3MB)

General Customer Satisfaction Survey Materials (PDF, 2.23MB)

Grandparent Assessment Materials (PDF, 1.05MB)

High-Level Administrative Materials (PDF, 3.00MB)

Monitoring Materials (PDF, 3.93MB)

State Caregiver Assessments (PDF, 5.87MB)

State Care Recipient Assessments (PDF, 8.40MB)

Task Force Materials (PDF, 31.1MB)

Uniform Satisfaction Materials (PDF, 3.0MB)

Other Materials (PDF, 9.59MB)

Full Article & Source:
New Report on National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP) Outcome Evaluation

ACL Awards Grants to 14 State Adult Protective Services Systems

September 26, 2018

 

ACL recently awarded grants totaling $4,877,699 to Adult Protective Services systems in 14 states. The three-year grants will be used to enhance statewide APS systems, evaluate and improve practices, and improve data collection and reporting to ACL’s National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System (NAMRS).

State APS systems investigate reports of abuse and exploitation of older adults and people with disabilities. They provide support and case-management, and connect people facing abuse to a variety of protective, emergency, and support services.

Find out how each state will use their APS enhancement grant:

• Arizona will link data from APS, Aging and Disability Services, and local Area Agencies on Aging; utilize technology to enhance data collection and reporting; and use predictive analytics to improve planning and budgeting for service needs.
• Arkansas’ project seeks to improve the experiences and outcomes of those served by APS by improving the state’s ability to document and report APS cases, clients, and offender characteristics and services in a manner that is consistent with NAMRS. They will also be supporting the education of APS staff, stakeholders, and the community.
• California will implement an APS Leaders Institute to increase the capacity of APS managers to coordinate, plan, and implement APS system improvements. The project includes the development and evaluation of a stipend program for graduate social work education paired with a commitment to work in APS.
• Idaho will be evaluating and deploying new resources including new screening and assessment tools, a case management and Goal Attainment Scaling intervention, and new methods to capture APS case, client, and perpetrator data.
• Maine will implement and evaluate an evidence-based APS service-planning and intervention model that utilizes practices including motivational interviewing, supported decision making, teaming, restorative justice, and goal attainment scaling. They will also update their information systems in order to report complete case component data to NAMRS.
• Massachusetts will use technology to create a common data reporting system that covers APS programs for adults of all ages. They will also partner with stakeholders to create an enhanced technology-based abuse education and reporting system called “Recognize, Report, Respond (R3)” for use by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
• Minnesota seeks to improve APS data quality, increase APS case-level reporting capacity, and promote consistency in adult protection assessment and screening response for vulnerable adults. The state will develop new quality assurance environments and implement customized reporting.
• Montana's APS program will integrate the reporting of suspected abuse and exploitation into the licensing and certification process for facilities, standardize risk and safety assessments and data collection, implement new tools to track the outcomes of interventions, work with Montana Tribal entities to improve data reporting, and track cases involving illicit drugs, alcohol, and opioid abuse. 
• Nevada will expand its Elder Protective Services program into a full APS program that serves adults with disabilities between the ages 18 and 59. They will use the grant to train APS staff, create program materials, and enhance NAMRS data collection and reporting capability.
• Ohio seeks to improve APS efficiency and data quality, increase awareness of elder abuse within the community, and to improve community supports for elders in need of community services or being considered for guardianship. The project will result in products that include a mandatory reporter training and online referral system, public awareness materials and resource guides, and a strategic plan for local teams.
• Oklahoma will develop an enhanced self-neglect practice that includes care planning, training, and service coordination. The project will also strengthen technology to improve NAMRS reporting and facilitate interviews and assessments with self-neglect clients, including Native Americans.
• Pennsylvania will expand the multi-disciplinary team approach to support older adults experiencing self-neglect, identify and resolve service gaps for older adults in need of protective services, and improve the quality and quantity of data reported to NAMRS. The state will also educate older adults living in the community on how to identify and report abuse and maintain health and wellness.
• Rhode Island will partner with the state's behavioral health agency to provide direct services to APS clients in need of highly targeted intervention and utilize statewide APS case management software and assistive technology to make field work more efficient. They will also increase internal training and host APS state conferences.
• Virginia will provide improved integrated e-learning to new APS workers and supervisors and proactively review caseload trends and best practice. Virginia will also improve their data collection and increase NAMRS participation with agency, key indicator, and case component level data.

Earlier this week, ACL awarded an elder justice innovation grant to combat elder abuse in Indian country.

Full Article & Source:
ACL Awards Grants to 14 State Adult Protective Services System

ACL Awards Grants to Help States Support Caregivers, Strengthen Lifespan Respite Systems

September 12, 2017

 

ACL recently awarded grants totaling nearly $3 million to 14 states to support caregivers by strengthening lifespan respite care programs. These programs seek to improve the well-being of families by coordinating existing respite systems, providing education and training opportunities, and expanding respite services.

North Dakota and South Dakota were awarded new state grants totaling $400,000 for three-year projects. The funding will be used to plan, establish, and expand lifespan respite care systems that provide new and planned emergency respite services, train and recruit respite workers and volunteers, and assist caregivers with accessing needed services.

Twelve states have been awarded three-year Advancing State Lifespan Respite Systems grants totaling more than $2.5 million to build on progress made under previous Lifespan Respite Care Program grants. Projects will focus on developing and strengthening the components of a lifespan respite care System deemed necessary for improving access, consistency, quality, sustainability; and reducing duplication in respite service delivery.

The 12 states are:

• Alabama
• Arizona
• Colorado
• Idaho
• North Carolina
• Nevada
• New York
• Oklahoma
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Washington 

Caregivers are often referred to as the backbone of America’s long-term care system. A 2009 study estimated that 65.7 million people in nearly 32% of U.S. household acted as unpaid family caregivers.

Respite care offers individuals or family members temporary relief from the daily routine and stress that can come with providing care. Respite can play a critical role in strengthening family stability and maintaining the health of the family caregiver.

Since 2009, ACL has awarded competitive lifespan respite grants to 37 states and the District of Columbia. Each state collaborates with an Aging and Disability Resource Center/No Wrong Door system, as well as a public or private non-profit statewide respite care coalition or organization.

Full Article & Source:
ACL Awards Grants to Help States Support Caregivers, Strengthen Lifespan Respite Systems

Prevention of Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation (Title VII-A3)

Authorizing Legislation: Section 721 of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended

• The Purpose of the Program and How it Works
• Data Highlight Extensive Services Provided to Seniors
• Funding History
• Resources and Useful Links

The Purpose of the Program and How it Works

In 1987 AoA established the Prevention of Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation program. Through the program, AoA provides federal leadership in strengthening elder justice strategic planning and direction for programs, activities, and research related to elder abuse awareness and prevention. This program trains law enforcement officers, health care providers, and other professionals on how to recognize and respond to elder abuse; supports outreach and education campaigns to increase public awareness of elder abuse and how to prevent it; and supports the efforts of state and local elder abuse prevention coalitions and multidisciplinary teams.

AoA allocates grants under this program by formula to states and territories based on their share of the population aged 60 and over. States and territories have the discretion to allocate funding among the various activities authorized under the program. They also may choose to distribute the funds to area agencies on aging and local service providers.

To support this important program, AoA provides funding for the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA). The NCEA serves as a national resource center dedicated to the prevention of elder mistreatment, and provides relevant information, materials, and support to enhance state and local efforts to prevent and address elder mistreatment. For an overview of this program, please visit the National Center on Elder Abuse section of the website, or you may go directly to the NCEA website.  (Click to Continue)

Full Article & Source:
Prevention of Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation (Title VII-A3)

$1 Million ACL Grant to Create a New National Center on Law and Elder Rights

ACL’s Administration on Aging announced the release of $1,050,000 to the nationally-recognized senior advocacy organization Justice in Aging to create a new National Center on Law and Elder Rights (NCLER). The NCLER will support ACL’s ongoing efforts to protect the rights, financial security, and independence of older adults.

The Center will provide tools to help law and aging professionals serve older clients and consumers effectively and serve as an easy single point of entry to a comprehensive system of legal resource support. NCLER attorneys will apply their wide range of knowledge and expertise to enhance state and local legal service delivery efforts to enable elders most in need to assert and protect their essential rights.

“By supporting the dedicated professionals in the legal and aging services networks, the National Center on Law and Elder Rights helps make legal assistance available to seniors who need it,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Aging Edwin Walker. “Helping older adults protect their rights and preserve their independence is at the core of our mission at the Administration for Community Living, and we look forward to working with Justice in Aging on this crucial initiative.”

The NCLER will provide tools and resources including a strategic combination of case consultation, legal training, and technical assistance in order to address a broad range of priority legal and systems development issues. The comprehensive resources developed by the NCLER will be made widely available to aging and disability, legal, and elder rights networks across the country, including legal assistance providers, Legal Assistance Developers, LTC Ombudsmen, Adult Protective Services, State Units on Aging, Area Agencies on Aging, and Aging and Disability Resource Centers, Senior Legal Helplines, and others involved in protecting the essential legal rights of older persons. 

The new NCLER offers an improved approach to enhancing the ability of legal and aging service providers and advocates to help older persons maintain their independence, live in their homes and communities, make their own decisions, and maintain their financial security.

What We All Carry: Kathy Greenlee's Final Speech As Assistant Secretary of Aging and ACL Adminstrator

On the topic of dignity ASA Greenlee said:

As I think about our programs and the people we serve, I’m always mindful of the values that run deep within us. I think we carry Dignity as well as anyone I know. The fundamental understanding and acknowledgement of the dignity and worth of every human being is core to our mission, at ACL and at your organization, in your work.

Our ability to carry the value of Dignity has been emboldened by the creation of ACL, by the co-location of programs that serve older adults, people with disabilities and their families. I believe the intrinsic dignity of an older person has been a core value in the field of aging. But I have also witnessed the more succinct focus on this value as the world of aging has crossed the bridge to the world of disability.

“Nothing about us without us.” The clarion call of the disability rights movement. This charge lead to the creation of Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed into law 26 years ago today. Nothing about us without us makes us stop and realize there are people missing in many of our conversations.

We can’t make good policy about people who are victims of abuse unless we make a concerted effort to include survivors in our work. We cannot develop appropriate support for people living with Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia unless we talk to those people – and follow their lead.

There are many examples of how dignity is imbedded in our work, as it should be. In our conversations about guardianship reform. In our discussions about services for victims of elder abuse. In our conversations with people who have intellectual or developmental disabilities. As we do outreach to diverse communities and families.

In the past year, I traveled to New Mexico and Montana to talk to tribal elders and meet the wonderful program staff who serve them. On both occasions, I was deeply moved by the dignity and stature of older American Indians.

Dignity. We must carry it forward and never lay it down.

Full Speech:
Prepared Remarks of Kathy Greenlee

ACL Awards $1.2 Million in Grants to Increase Older American's Access to Legal Services

The Administration for Community Living recently announced grant awards totaling over $1.2 million to help older adults at risk of abuse, neglect, or exploitation gain access to quality legal services.

The Model Approaches to Statewide Legal Assistance Systems (Model Approaches) demonstration grants are designed to help states expand and improve the capacity of their legal service delivery networks to effectively respond to priority legal issues impacting seniors in the most social or economic need. The awards will become effective on August 1, 2016 and will provide 8 states with funding in the amount of $1,244,154.

Two Phase I awards, averaging $86,577, will be made to State Units on Aging in Tennessee and Wisconsin. The Phase I grantees will work to develop statewide legal service delivery systems that coordinate efforts of senior legal helplines, pro-bono attorneys, law school clinics, self-help sites, and Older Americans Act-funded legal services providers to ensure maximum impact from limited resources. The target populations are underserved seniors, with particular emphasis upon low-income, minority, rural, homebound, Native American, and limited-English speaking older adults.

*The State of Tennessee will use the funding to improve access to, and the quality of, legal services for vulnerable older Tennesseans. The state seeks to establish a senior legal helpline (as opposed to the existing general legal helpline); increasing by 25% the number of individuals who indicate they were appropriately referred to and served by the legal assistance system; and increasing by 15% the number of elders in the state who make use of self-help resources.

*The State of Wisconsin, which offers a unique service delivery system in its Elder Benefits Specialist program, will work in conjunction with key stakeholders to expand community partnerships; encourage the adoption of new technology to connect older adults with legal assistance; and leverage its existing statewide data collection system to measure systemic improvements.

Six states received Model Approaches Phase II grants to build upon the enhancements in service delivery capacity achieved in Phase I. The Phase II awards of $178,500 each will be made to State Units on Aging in Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Virginia. The grantees will conduct legal systems capacity assessments, promote the use of senior legal helplines and other low-cost mechanisms, develop legal service standards and data collection systems, and enhance state legal and aging service delivery systems’ responses to elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. Project examples include:

*The State of Connecticut will fund a Senior Legal Helpline that will use GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping to locate hard- to-reach seniors facing legal problems and train case managers serving homebound and isolated seniors to fight financial abuse.

*The State of Florida will create a uniform case management system designed to identify and prioritize legal issues related to elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. In addition, the project will feature a Working Interdisciplinary Network of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS) at the state court level to explore remedies to guardianship abuse and advance supported decision-making models.

*The State of Massachusetts will form four regional legal and aging network partnerships to address elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation. The project will feature the recruitment and training of volunteer attorneys and law students to conduct law clinics at courthouses throughout the state with the goal of addressing priority legal issues impacting seniors most in need.

*The State of Pennsylvania will expand the SeniorLAW HelpLine to provide targeted advocacy and assistance for elder abuse victims in all counties. In addition, the project will feature designated “Elder Abuse Attorney” positions within III-B legal provider offices.

*The State of Vermont will create greater cohesion among the State Unit on Aging, Adult Protective Services, and the Long Term Care Ombudsman. In addition, the project will feature a Senior Legal Helpline designed to handle legal issues related to elder abuse. and the state will also participate in a supported decision-making task force involving legal and aging/disability partners.

*The State of Virginia will integrate a Senior Legal Helpline and at least two Title III-B legal providers into the state’s Aging and Disability Resource Center network to identify and respond to priority legal issues including elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. The project will feature formalized memorandums of agreement between project partners, cross-training on priority legal issues, development of legal assistance screening tools, and joint targeting and outreach activities.

Source:
ACL Awards $1.2 Million in Grants to Increase Older American's Access to Legal Services

A message from Kathy Greenlee to our colleagues in the aging and disability networks

Dear colleagues,

Earlier today, I shared the news with my staff that I will be leaving ACL at the end of July. Edwin Walker, who currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging, will assume the roles of Acting Administrator of ACL and Acting Assistant Secretary for Aging.

This kind of announcement is really hard. On one hand, it’s no surprise to anyone. It’s an election year, and new administrations mean new administrators. This is how the system works—and it’s good that it does. It’s good to get a fresh perspective and new energy.

But it is still really hard to leave. This has been a wonderful experience and an extremely rewarding seven years. And as I told the ACL team, I am proud of what we have done together. We have brought our communities together in a way that gives us a larger voice and more influence, and ultimately makes us more successful as advocates.

Consolidating aging and disability work in one place raised some eyebrows. These seemed like very different groups of people. And they are. But there are a lot of similarities in the services and supports people need in order to live independently. So it made sense to bring the federal efforts to support community living together under one umbrella.

But it worked because you made the leap of faith with us. You worked with us to build the agency the right way from the beginning, and you’ve continued to work with us as the agency has grown. I want you to know how much I appreciate your advice, support, and even your tough assessments. We’re better because of it.

It has been my great honor and privilege to work with you. I am grateful to Edwin Walker for stepping into these roles. And I am looking forward to seeing ACL continue to build upon the foundation we’ve created together.

Kathy

Full Article & Source:
A message from Kathy Greenlee to our colleagues in the aging and disability networks