OVC FY 16 Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Team Demonstration Project

The purpose of this project is to fund three MDT coordinators in three different jurisdictions, one of which is in a tribal jurisdiction, who will each form an MDT team (for a total of three MDT teams) to respond to and work with elder victims of crime. Although multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) have existed in the context of child abuse since the 1980s, the field of elder abuse has not begun using this approach as frequently as the child abuse field. MDTs led by an MDT coordinator could improve older victims' access to victim services and the criminal justice process. Under this proposal, three MDTs, one of which is tribal, each led by an MDT coordinator, would help improve responses to elder victims of crimes in the selected jurisdictions and potentially demonstrate successful MDT models to be used in other jurisdictions. Under the MDT coordinators leadership, the different organizations and individuals would collaborate to provide victim-centered responses to elder crime victims. Each site would be required to hire a local researcher who will be an integral partner in this project. Among other activities, the researcher would work with the MDT to develop and execute a needs assessment; identify baseline data and develop performance measures to assess implementation of the project; and produce a final report that outlines challenges, successes, use of evidence based practices and promising practices. These documents would be shared with other jurisdictions interested in establishing MDTs. Further, the MDT coordinator would be an experienced elder abuse, MDT professional, who would provide training and technical assistance to the different individuals and organizations participating in the elder abuse MDT project. For specialized needs, technical assistance would be obtained through an OVC technical assistance provider. The goal of this project is to stimulate the growth of elder abuse MDTs.