Thursday, November 8, 2018
Wisconsin state agencies have been working collaboratively to promote awareness to Wisconsin residents about the growing problem of elder abuse. Programs and services have been developed by state agencies to help people identify and report cases of elder abuse and to help victims and their families receive support.
The Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services (DHS) has a website dedicated to connecting older adults in Wisconsin to a variety of programs and services to help with identifying and reporting elder abuse. A list, that includes a brief description of programs and services, is available online. Also online is a complete list of elder adults-at-risk help lines for each county.
The Wisconsin Dept. of Justice (DOJ) announced in a recent news release that they were awarded a $1.25 million grant from the U.S. Dept. of Justice Office on Violence Against Women. According to the news release, “the “Abuse in Later Life” grant program will provide training and advanced victim services on elder abuse at project sites in Wisconsin.”
In an effort to promote awareness about the risks of elder abuse, the DOJ also launched a new website earlier this year, www.ReportElderAbuseWI.org. This website provides information about how to recognize and report elder abuse and information about programs and services designed to connect victims to the help they need at the local and state level.
Learn more about elder abuse in Wisconsin in the Wisconsin’s Annual Elder Abuse and Neglect Report published by DHS. Reports for 2004-2017 are available in the Wisconsin Digital Archives.
Blog post written by: Abby Swanton, Resources for Libraries and Life Long Learning.