Initiative

 
 

The ACR/FLAFCC Elder Justice Initiative on Eldercaring Coordination: Expanding the reach of eldercaring coordination worldwide

 

Family conflict regarding older adults is an issue without borders.

Families become better role models for the next generation when eldercaring coordination teaches them the skills to cooperatively resolve disputes and make decisions that respect the dignity, safety and autonomy of their aging loved ones.

The eldercaring coordination initiative is devoted to helping families, communities and the court reduce conflict about the care and safety of older adults by providing: 

  • Education and training for families, professionals, and court

  • Support for Eldercaring Coordination Programs 

  • Research to enhance benefits of eldercaring coordination

  • Encouraging collaborations within court systems and communities

  • Enhancing the voice and increasing the safety of older adults

  • Modeling positive conflict resolution for future generations

Initiate eldercaring coordination in your area ➝

Eldercaring Coordination Initiative Packet

Eldercaring Coordination Initiative 5-Year Progress Report

 

“If a dispute cannot be addressed through mediation, a new dispute resolution process called Eldercaring Coordination may be useful in resolving the increasingly common high conflict 'family feud' situations. According to the Association for Conflict Resolution, Eldercaring Coordination is ‘a dispute resolution option specifically for high -conflict cases involving the care, needs and safety of elders.’”

– The American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging.
Legislative fact sheet, Guardianship and the Right to Visitation, Communication, and Interaction

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 
 

＋ What is Eldercaring Coordination?

Eldercaring coordination is a court-ordered process for aging persons and their families in high conflict situations. Highly qualified and trained conflict resolution specialists called Eldercaring Coordinators:

  1. Enable more effective communication, negotiation and problem-solving skills;
  2. Offer education about care resources for aging persons;
  3. Facilitate the creation and implementation of an aging person’s care plan;
  4. Recommend how to resolve non-legal conflict; and
  5. Make decisions within the scope of a court order or with the parties’ prior approval.

＋ Why is eldercaring coordination court-ordered?

A court orders eldercaring coordination when it wants to ensure an aging person is safe and well cared for but believes the family conflicts may be jeopardizing those goals. Families identified for the process may have a difficult time agreeing to anything, let alone a dispute resolution process. The court’s order to participate in eldercaring coordination gives those families a way to resolve disputes, ensures family members know the importance of working together and provides accountability for court-ordered participants in caring for the aging person.

＋ What is an Eldercaring Coordination Program?

An Eldercaring Coordination Program is where one judge or judges or magistrates in a specific circuit, district or county refer cases to qualified and trained eldercaring coordinators; attorneys, guardians and conservators may also identify cases and bring them to the judge’s attention for referral.

＋ What about research?

The development of Eldercaring Coordination is based on research about trauma-informed, person- centered care; dispute resolution; court processes; and family conflict and its intergenerational effects. An independent research team at Virginia Tech University led by Pamela Teaster, Ph.D., Director Center for Gerontology, and Megan Dolbin-MacNab, Ph.D., Director of the Doctoral Program in Marriage and Family Therapy, are currently studying the process to enhance eldercaring coordination as it progresses. This will ensure the development of the most promising practices to achieve the greatest benefits from the process.

＋ Why is this important to you?

Eldercaring coordination is the only dispute resolution process developed specifically to address the unique issues of high conflict families caring for an aging loved one. Eldercaring coordination can help a family embrace the last years of their aging loved one’s life instead of being mired in heartbreaking conflict that results when families fail to develop a support system at that crucial time. The impact of the growing aging population on court systems will be enormous, straining already limited budgets and resources. Eldercaring coordination can free courts from micromanaging non- legal issues about an aging person’s care by providing families with a more effective, less intrusive alternative for conflict management. When people agree to cooperatively resolve their issues rather than having a court decision imposed upon them, there is a better chance they will implement their agreements; this saves time and resources for the family, the court and the community-at-large.

＋ How can you support the Eldercaring Coordination Initiative?

With the goal of making eldercaring coordination accessible to all aging persons and families in conflict, the Eldercaring Coordination Initiative needs support to:

  • Expand availability through existing and new eldercaring coordination programs
  • Provide continuous support for Eldercaring Coordinators, Program Administrators, Judges, Magistrates and Hearing Officers
  • Provide education about eldercaring coordination to the public and professionals
  • Promote research to enhance the development of eldercaring coordination and inform best practices;
  • Provide resources for indigent families to participate in eldercaring coordination.