Caxton Legal Centre’s Seniors Legal and Support Service has produced a comprehensive document introducing and explaining the intricacies of its unique social worker-lawyer intervention model.
The report states:
“Elder abuse is a human rights issue. Older people are vulnerable to abuse, mistreatment and exploitation. Interventions should simultaneously promote a life free from abuse, and support an older person’s right to self-determination. In this social worker-lawyer intervention model, social workers and lawyers are working together to represent a highly effective first response to elder abuse. This model recognises that elder abuse exists in a complex matrix of psychosocial and legal issues. The older person is empowered to choose the social supports and legal interventions they prefer to address the abuse they are experiencing.
This multidisciplinary response includes an assessment of the older person’s family and social context, as well as the early identification of underlying legal issues. It incorporates safety planning as a foundation and urgent protective legal action where indicated. Integrated case planning between the social worker and lawyer ensures that the older person is offered the full spectrum of available supports and interventions, and the mechanism to be empowered to choose which interventions they want. The incorporation of all of these features into the social worker-lawyer intervention model is predictive of positive outcomes for the older person.”
Read the full document here.