Elder and Family Violence Resources

International Resources, Australia, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Related Documents

International Resources

Elder Abuse - World Health Organization: WHO has recognized the need to establish a global strategy for the prevention of the abuse of older people.  This site contains extensive medical, prevention, education and advocacy information.

International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse: The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse aims to increase society's ability, through international collaboration, to recognize and respond to the mistreatment of older people in whatever setting it occurs, so that the latter years of life will be free from abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Verbal Abuse: The Verbal Abuse website is dedicated to the recognition and prevention of verbal abuse in homes, schools and workplaces. A major online resource in this field.

Australia

Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse: The Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse is a national resource on issues of domestic violence and family violence. It provides a central point for the collection and dissemination of Australian domestic and family violence policy, practice and research. It aims to meet the information needs of government agencies, generalist and specialist service providers, researchers and interested members of the public.

Elder Abuse Prevention Unit (Queensland, Australia): The goals of the EAPU are to enhance the quality of life and safety of older people in Queensland by ensuring that: Older people are aware of how to prevent elder abuse; Older people who are abused have access to information and assistance: Older people have access to services with fully developed inter-agency networks providing a coordinated response: Staff in community organizations providing services to older people have the knowledge and skills to assist them; Current and proposed legislation address the issue of elder abuse; Older people and organizations are empowered by having access to decision-making processes.

Canada

Abuse of Older Adults - Canadian Legal FAQs: Laws made by the federal government apply across Canada, while provincial laws only apply in a particular province. Canadian Legal FAQs are organized by information that applies nationally or to Alberta. The FAQs can also be accessed by Topic. This page links to both National and Alberta information.

Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (Ontario): The Advocacy Centre for The Elderly is a community based legal clinic for low income senior citizens in the Toronto, Ontario region. 

Alberta Elder Abuse Awareness Network: The Alberta Elder Abuse Awareness Network is dedicated to increasing awareness and supporting a community response to elder abuse. AEAAN is: a province-wide network of professionals; represented by communities across Alberta; promoting the well-being of older adults; working to increasing community awareness; developing resources to address elder abuse; strengthening the right to safety, respect and dignity

BC Association of Specialized Victim Service and Counselling Programs: The Association provides a provincial voice for survivors of violence and the community-based services that support them. They maintain a strong network between Community-Based Victim Assistance programs, Sexual Assault Centres and Stopping the Violence counselling programs across BC. They have also established important links with government, policy makers, legislators and other provincial organizations.

Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse: This website provides information to raise awareness of key issues around abuse and neglect in later life and to assure older adults are treated as full citizens in Canadian society. The site is intended to help people access and share information on abuse and neglect issues in later life, as well as learn more about what is being done across Canada to address this important health, social and legal issue.

Centre for Research on Violence: Funded by the Canadian government, this organization seeks to prevent domestic violence and sexual abuse. They are involved in a number of areas, including intervention strategies, civil and criminal remedies, education, training initiatives and prevention.

Elder Abuse - Winnipeg Police Service: Prevention, education and contact information.

National Aboriginal Circle Against Family Violence: NACAFV serves by acting as a national clearinghouse for on-the-ground information, developing standards, training programs and provides a project monitoring Aboriginal family violence. NACAFV as has its basis in a consultative process that respects and recognizes Aboriginal knowledge as necessary for the effective provision of family violence intervention and prevention to Aboriginal peoples.

National Clearinghouse on Family Violence Canada: An office of Health Canada, this site provides excellent information and resources on all aspects of family violence, including: prevention, elder abuse, child abuse, spousal abuse, sexual abuse and more.

Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse: The ONPEA is dedicated to educating professionals and lay persons about elder abuse and neglect;  promoting information sharing among professionals and advocates in the field of elder abuse;  developing educational and training programs about elder abuse prevention and intervention for people working with the elderly; advocacy and support to victims of elder abuse and neglect.  

Ontario Seniors Secretariat - Elder Abuse:  The Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat developed Ontarios "Strategy to Combat Elder Abuse" and is partnering with the Ontario Victim Services Secretariat, Ministry of the Attorney General, and the Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (ONPEA) to implement the Strategy. The Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse is a non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to the prevention of elder abuse and neglect. Elder Abuse Regional Consultants are in place across the province to help promote and support efforts in addressing and preventing elder abuse. The consultants act as a key resource to justice and community service providers and local elder abuse networks addressing elder abuse throughout Ontario .

Japan

Institute for Family Functioning (in Japanese): A research and counselling/therapy organization which focuses on domestic violence, child abuse and other symptoms of a dysfunctional family.  Their webpage includes links to a variety of counselling/clinical sites in Japan and around the world.

United Kingdom

Action on Elder Abuse: Action on Elder Abuse (AEA) works to protect, and prevent the abuse of, vulnerable older adults. They were the first charity to address these problems and are the only charity in the UK and in Ireland working exclusively on the issue today.  Education, online resources and national reporting hotlines are available on their website.

United States

Abuse Victim Hotline: The Abuse Victim Hotline, Inc. offers preliminary support to victims of abuse nationally via their toll-free hotline and confidential email service. If their volunteers cannot help a victim or friend/loved one of a victim directly, they'll do their best to point them in the right direction.

American Administration on Aging - Elder Rights / Elder Abuse: A wealth of information on elder abuse research, prevention, education, victim support, resources and reporting.  Highly recommended.

Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence: A well-designed and informative site, the Center works from a multi-disciplinary platform on the subject of violence and facilitates the building of bridges between the research community and the practitioners and policy makers. The CSPV collects research literature and resources on the causes and prevention of violence and provides direct information services to the public by offering topical searches on customized databases. Second, CSPV offers technical assistance for the evaluation and development of violence prevention programs. Third, CSPV maintains a basic research component through data analysis and other projects on the causes of violence and the effectiveness of prevention and intervention programs. The Center maintains four databases. They are the:

• Violence Evaluation Instruments Database
• Violence Literature Database
• Violence Prevention Program Database
• Violence Resources Database

Clearinghouse on Abuse and Neglect of the Elderly (CANE): The nation's largest computerized catalog of elder abuse literature.

Deaf Vermonters Advocacy Services: While primarily an advocacy organization, DVAS also provides a point of contact and referral for dear victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Elder Abuse - National Library of Health: Extensive information, background, education and prevention information.

Elder Abuse and Neglect - American Psychological Association Office on Aging: Education, prevention and reporting information, along with links and documents of interest.

Family Violence Prevention Fund: An excellent source of information and statistics and educational materials on family violence for home, educational, office and court uses. A large collection of relevant links can also be found. An excellent resource site.

Foundation Aiding the Elderly (FATE): The objective of FATE is to serve as a voice for patients and to bring about national reforms and enforcement of the laws governing the nursing home industry and its regulatory agencies in order to assure proper care, civil rights and meaningful, dignified life for the elderly in long-term care facilities.

Higher Education Center Against Violence and Abuse / Electronic Clearinghouse. An excellent resource listing courses available throughout the US on violence, abuse and prevention. A large number of links to sites of interest and text-only files on violence are also available. One of the best sites I've found on the topic of violence.

Kan-Win: Korean-American Women in Need: Kan-Win provides counselling, advocacy and social services to victims of domestic or family violence who are of Korean or Korean-American heritage, including translation services and court accompaniment.

Los Angeles District Attorney's Elder Abuse Unit: The District Attorney’s Office was the first local prosecutor’s office in the country to establish an Elder Abuse Section with a staff specially trained and dedicated to prosecuting crimes against the elderly. These specially trained attorneys vertically prosecute elder abuse cases, which means that one deputy district attorney handles a case from beginning to end.

National Center for Victims of Crime: Many links to crime-specific pages and large amounts of resource material on and for victims of crime, victim's rights advocacy and national and state laws/programs.

National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse: The National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (NCPEA) is an association of researchers, practitioners, educators, and advocates dedicated to protecting the safety, security, and dignity of America's most vulnerable citizens. It was established in 1988 to achieve a clearer understanding of abuse and provide direction and leadership to prevent it. The Committee is one of six partners that make up the National Center on Elder Abuse, which is funded by Congress to serve as the nation's clearinghouse on information and materials on abuse and neglect.

National Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence: NCCAFV provides public awareness and education materials, program and resource development consultation, and technical assistance and training in the United States and internationally.

National Center on Elder Abuse: A resource for policy makers, social service and health care practitioners, the justice system, researchers, advocates, and families on the topic of Elder Abuse.

Nursing Response to Elder Mistreatment Curriculum: The goal of this course is to help nurses acquire essential knowledge and skills to appropriately respond to elder mistreatment. This course prepares nurses to integrate nursing and forensic sciences into the care of vulnerable older adults who have been mistreated or are at high risk for mistreatment by trusted others.

Preventing and Responding to Domestic & Sexual Violence in Later Life: This special collection brings together selected materials related to preventing and responding to elder abuse, specifically domestic and sexual violence. In doing so, it draws from the work of the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life (NCALL), National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) and other organizations. The materials included in this special collection have been organized by their relevance to key stakeholders. Although particular effort was made to include materials related to addressing elder abuse in diverse groups of older people, very few materials in this special collection focus on elder abuse or DV/SV among older people from culturally diverse backgrounds. This limitation is due to significant gaps in current literature. This special collection was developed by the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA) in collaboration with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) and the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV), and in close consultation with the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life (NCALL).

Symptoms of Emotional Abuse: A well designed and informative page on emotional abuse and they cycle of abuse; how to recognize it in yourself and others. Many links of use and interest are also available.