Lawmakers push for federal Elder Justice Act
by Bryn Mickle | The Flint Journal
May 09, 2009
Elderly Genesee County women forced to live in filth, sometimes under the care of their own children.
"It's unfathomable," said U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Flint.
With state officials predicting more than 100,000 cases of elder abuse next year, Kildee and other federal lawmakers are pushing for new legislation that would use $100 million to help local agencies find and address such incidences.
The Elder Justice Act would create offices of elder justice at the federal departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. Those offices, said Kildee, would raise the profile of the issue and make it easier to get federal money into communities such as Genesee County. "They're on the front lines," he said. Any federal money would be welcome, said Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton. The Genesee County Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation program currently relies on about $750,000 in funding from the county's $8-million senior citizen millage. The program has turned up disturbing allegations since it was formed two years ago.
Last year, a Flint Township man was charged with murder after investigators alleged his 73-year-old mother died of neglect. And investigators arrested a Flint man last month after they found his mother living on a urine-soaked couch swarming with roaches and maggots.
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