Pursuing and Celebrating Justice for Older Pennsylvanians

SeniorLAW Center seeks justice for older people by using the power of the law, educating the community and advocating on local, state and national levels. We are unique: while we proudly collaborate with partners across the state and country, we are the only non-profit organization in Pennsylvania dedicated to protecting the legal rights of older people – and one of the few in the country. Much of our work is intergenerational, including grandparents and others raising children at risk. We serve over 5,000 older people each year. All of our services are free. With 5 offices in Southeastern Pennsylvania and a statewide SeniorLAW HelpLine open to any Pennsylvanian 60 or older, SeniorLAW Center’s services are often a lifeline for older people in need, fighting abuse, homelessness, exploitation and poverty.

What types of “justice” issues are older people facing and how does it affect their lives? The issues are diverse and have profound impact on safety, security, health, families – and can even mean the difference between life and death.

Elder Abuse

Elder abuse and financial exploitation are legal and health crises in our country and in our Commonwealth. It is estimated that at least 1 in 10 older Americans is abused, physically, emotionally, or financially. At least 5 million older people are abused each year, but vast underreporting results in many seniors suffering in silence: only 1 in 14 to 1 in 44 cases is reported. Financial exploitation costs older people and their families at least $2.9 billion annually. Domestic and family violence knows no age limits. Many older people, both women and men, face violence in their own homes by intimate partners, adult children or grandchildren, or other family members or caregivers. Victims are 300% more likely to die prematurely. Elder abuse is deadly, devastating and unacceptable.

SeniorLAW Center is proud to be a leader in both preventing and responding to elder abuse. Our Project S.A.F.E. (Stop Abuse and Financial Exploitation), launch in 1996, is one of our most important and expanding programs. Our growing staff in the 5-county region, with offices in Bristol (Bucks), Media (Delaware), Norristown (Montgomery), and, this month, West Chester (Chester), provides specialized legal, educational and advocacy services for older victims and their legal needs. We fight zealously against elder abuse in all its forms.

Kinship Care

Grandparents are raising grandchildren when parents cannot, in unprecedented numbers in light of a host of family problems, recently exacerbated by the opioid crisis. Nationally, over 6 million children live with a relative caregiver, 66% of whom are grandparents. In Pennsylvania, over 80,000 grandparents are responsible for their grandchildren. Most kinship caregivers are older relatives: grandparents, great-grandparents, great-aunts and uncles and other matriarchs and patriarchs of the family. The number of kinship care families has increased by more than 50% since the 1990’s.

SeniorLAW Center provides direct legal and support services to families in crisis by helping and advocating for grandparents raising grandchildren and other minor relative children who have lost their birth parents or been abandoned, abused or neglected. We launched this innovative program in 1993, and was one of the first in the country to provide specialized legal and support services to intergenerational families and kinship caregivers, those who step in at times of crisis to raise young children when their lives and homes are torn apart.

Instead of placing children in traditional foster care in the homes of third parties in a system that is struggling, grandparents and other older kin step in to raise relative children and serve an extraordinary role in their lives. Kinship care promotes healthy living and improves family health, stability and overall well-being of these intergenerational families. Children have been found to thrive in kinship care, demonstrating greater success in school, in emotional wellness, and in resiliency.

We help intergenerational families thrive, in safe, habitable homes, addressing their many needs in innovative and holistic ways through our network of partners in child advocacy, education, housing, health care, financial assistance and social and human services.

Housing is a critical legal issue facing older people today and has enormous impact on every other aspect of life, as it does for all of us. For seniors, without a safe, habitable home, there is no ability to “age in place,” access home and community-based health and support services, avoid institutionalization, and remain in community, near relatives, known neighbors, resources, comfort. Whether a homeowner facing mortgage foreclosure, problems with a reverse mortgage or real estate taxes, home repair contractor fraud, deed issues, including title which has not been transferred for generations, or utility issues, or a tenant facing eviction, unsafe conditions, or illegal lock-out, housing legal issues can be complex and require navigation of a legal system which can be daunting. And the consequences, including losing one’s home, are severe. SeniorLAW Center provides legal advice, information and services in all of these areas.

Guardianship

Approximately 1.3 million adults are under the care of guardians – family members or professionals – who control approximately $50 billion of their assets. Guardianship is a legal proceeding through which the fundamental rights and decisionmaking of vulnerable people are given to another, with the goal of protecting those rights. While most guardians are caring family members of professionals with good intentions, guardianship in the wrong hands leads to abuse and exploitation which devastates lives already vulnerable. Those facing guardianship have no right to an attorney; historically, the courts have provided limited oversight of the actions of guardians. SeniorLAW Center advocates for critical improvements in the guardianship system. I had the privilege of testifying at the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging’s November 2018 hearing in Washington: Ensuring Trust: Strengthening State Efforts to Overhaul the Guardianship Process and Protect Older Americans. https://www.cspan.org/video/?455102-1/legal-guardianship-elderly, on the role of legal services, the need for a right to counsel, alternatives to guardianship, the need for more data and oversight, and other specific ways to better avoid devastating abuse, neglect and exploitation of those under guardianship. Pennsylvania has taken steps to make improvements to the guardianship system through the efforts of the PA Supreme Court’s Advisory Council on Elder Justice and the Administrative Office of PA Courts, including the new Guardianship Tracking System which will make Pennsylvania the “gold standard” in the country for collecting, monitoring and sharing guardianship data and, it is hoped, improving oversight and reducing harm.

On March 16, 2019, SeniorLAW Center will celebrate its work in all of these areas, and more, at its 41st anniversary gala, honoring four individuals and organizations as champions of elder justice: U.S. Senator Bob Casey, a leading voice on national aging issues as Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging and a stalwart advocate for older Pennsylvanians and access to justice; Honorable Sheila Woods-Skipper, judge of the First Judicial District and founder of Pennsylvania’s first Elder Justice Resource Center; Attorney and former SeniorLAW Center Board Chair Gay Parks-Rainville, Esq.; and the law firm of Duane Morris LLP, pro bono partners who work closely with SeniorLAW Center to represent and advocate for older veterans, homeowners, and individuals.

For more information about SeniorLAW Center’s programs and services, our 2019 gala, which provides much-needed support for our work, volunteer or giving opportunities, visit www. seniorlawcenter.org. Join us in seeking justice for older Pennsylvanians.