What's happening
This bill creates multidisciplinary investigative teams to improve the investigation and reporting of suspected elder abuse or maltreatment in New York.
Why it matters
Creates specialized, collaborative teams. including professionals from social services, law enforcement, prosecutors, banks, healthcare, mental health, and victim advocacy, aiming to bring a range of expertise to complex elder abuse cases, especially financial exploitation and neglect.
Improves coordination and information sharing. by legally allowing team members to share confidential, client-identifiable information with each other, which could reduce communication gaps and ensure a more comprehensive response to suspected abuse.
Requires systematic reporting and oversight. by mandating regular reports on outcomes—such as criminal case results, victim health, financial recoveries, and inter-agency collaboration—to top state officials, promoting transparency and the continual improvement of elder abuse investigations.
Emphasizes training and best practices. by obligating social services districts to educate team members on risk assessment, abuse indicators, and interviewing techniques, aiming to boost investigative quality and victim support statewide.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Investigate Elder Abuse Reports
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to aging
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to aging
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2160
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 12, 2017
Introduced by Sen. SERINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Aging
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to investigating reports of suspected elder abuse or maltreatment
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Article 9-B of the social services law is amended by adding a new title 4 to read as follows:
TITLE 4
ELDER ABUSE Section 473-m. Elder abuse reporting.
§ 473-m. Elder abuse reporting. 1. Within amounts appropriated therefor, the commissioner shall establish a program for the development of a multidisciplinary investigative team or teams for the purpose of investigating reports of suspected elder abuse or maltreatment.
(a) The program shall provide that the social services district shall have discretion with regard to the category or categories of suspected elder abuse or maltreatment such team or teams may investigate, provided, however, that the social services district shall place particular emphasis on cases involving physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, active, passive or self neglect, and financial exploitation as defined in subdivision six of section four hundred seventy-three of the social services law.
(b) Members of multidisciplinary teams shall include but not be limited to representatives from the following agencies: adult protective services, law enforcement, the district attorney's office, banks and financial institutions, as well as forensic accountants, physician or medical providers trained in elder abuse and maltreatment, mental health professionals, and victim advocacy personnel. Members of the multidisciplinary team primarily responsible for the investigation of elder abuse and maltreatment reports, including those representatives from adult
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04887-01-7
S. 2160 2
protective services, law enforcement, and the district attorney's office, shall participate in joint interviews and conduct investigative functions consistent with the mission of the particular agency member involved. It shall not be required that members of a multidisciplinary team not responsible for the investigation of reports participate in every investigation. Such other members shall provide victim advocacy, emotional support, and access to medical and mental health care, where applicable.
(c) All members, consistent with their respective agency missions and professions, shall facilitate efficient delivery of services to victims and appropriate disposition of cases through the criminal justice system in a collaborative manner. However, non-investigative team members shall note their specific role in the team for reports covered by this section.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, members of a multidisciplinary investigative team may share with other team members client-identifiable information concerning the victim or the victim's family to facilitate the investigation of suspected elder abuse or maltreatment. Nothing in this subdivision shall preclude the creation of multidisciplinary teams which include more than one social services district. Each team shall develop a written protocol for investigation of elder abuse and maltreatment cases and for interviewing elder abuse and maltreatment victims.
2. Approved projects shall submit a report to the director of the state office for the aging, who shall make such reports available to the majority leader of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, and the chairs of the aging committees of the senate and assembly, by November first, two thousand seventeen, documenting initial findings of the multidisciplinary team investigations, including, but not limited to:
(a) final dispositions of criminal cases that were investigated and assisted by the multidisciplinary team, with appropriate confidentiality measures taken to protect the identities of victims and the accused;
(b) physical and mental health outcomes of victims who were the subjects of elder abuse and maltreatment cases;
(c) financial judgments and repayments made as a result of the investigation and intervention of the multidisciplinary team;
(d) necessary measures taken to ensure cross-collaboration across agencies and providers; and
(e) necessary training that each social services district took to train members including appropriate ways to assess risk, identify indicators of elder abuse and maltreatment, and conduct appropriate interviews.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to investigating reports of suspected elder abuse or maltreatment
Purpose
This bill establishes a program that allows social services districts to develop multidisciplinary investigative team or teams for the purpose of investigating reports of suspected elder abuse or maltreatment
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Amends Article 9-B of the Social Services law and adds a new Title 4 to authorize the Commissioner to establish a program for the development of a multidisciplinary team or teams for the purpose of investigating suspected elder abuse. Social Services districts may investigate reports of elder abuse through the use of multidisciplinary teams which shall include representatives from adult protective services, law enforcement, the district attorney's office, banks and financial institutions, as well as forensic accountants, physicians or medical providers, mental health professionals and victim advocacy personnel.
Section 2: Sets an immediate effective date.
Justification
As part of the Elder Abuse Prevention Interventions grant initiative, two pilot programs in New York City and in the Finger Lakes (Monroe, Cayuga, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne, and Yates counties) were established with the chief aims of improving systems collaboration and awareness of investigating and intervening in complex cases of elder financial exploitation and elder abuse.
Initial reports from the federal programs in the Finger Lakes and New York City regions have shown significant results in preventing the exploitation of older adults and the successful prosecution of criminal cases. The Finger Lakes site alone reported $514,000 has been directed to be repaid by a court, or agreed upon in repayment plans, and over $130,000 has been repaid to victims as of last year. Coordinators noted that the multidisciplinary teams were "key to facilitating the work, and the meetings (conducted by the multi-disciplinary teams) enable cross-systems collaboration to address needs of vulnerable older adults who are victims of financial exploitation and other abuse."
Addressing financial exploitation is only one of the many components investigated by multidisciplinary teams whose work can be credited as literally life-saving at times.
Elder abuse has unfortunately emerged as a national epidemic that has significant consequences throughout our state. Given the proven record of the multidisciplinary teams, we have a model in place to build on their current work, as well as past experience, to continue efforts that aggressively target these crimes and build strong systems of intervention across our state.
Legislative history
2016: S.6922 Passed Senate
Fiscal implications
Nominal cost to the state which may result in financial recovery for victims.
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.