STAGES: Strategies and Training to Advance Greater Elder Safety

In an effort to propel national progress in identifying and remedying elder abuse and financial exploitation, OVC's Field-Generated Innovations in Addressing Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation Project is funding eight innovative field-generated projects in three Purpose Areas: (1) the use of technology, (2) encouragement and enhancement of cross-collaboration in victim services, and (3) the offer of enhanced or new legal remedies for victims of elder abuse and financial exploitation.

Under Purpose Area 2, Futures Without Violence will create the Strategies and Training to Advance Greater Elder Safety (STAGES) Institute, a partnership between Futures, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), and program evaluator, Dr. Peter Jaffe. Through this community collaboration, STAGES will educate teams of justice and community professionals about financial exploitation and elder abuse and will further the creation of a shared, grassroots, justice system-community vision for elder justice. Futures and NCJFCJ plan to engage in a thorough, 12-month process to design a national education program that will increase the capacity of judges, court staff, and community partners to respond to abuse and financial exploitation of elders. After an assessment is completed, Futures and NCJFCJ plan to develop a curriculum to educate judges, court personnel, and community partners on the dynamics of financial exploitation of elders and its overlap with other forms of elder abuse methods to intervene in these cases, and strategies to enhance collaboration; pilot test the curriculum; and present a plan to integrate the educational materials developed into judicial education and court programs throughout the country. CA/NCF