The Department of Aging marks World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) with the launch of two new online education resources.
| The Pennsylvania Department of Aging marks World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) with the launch of two new online education resources. New Webpage Focused on the Growing Problem of Financial Exploitation of Older Adults Our new financial exploitation resource webpage features information for older adults, caregivers and other aging professionals on warning signs, preventive measures, and an expandable menu of resources on key topics such as banking and finance, legal services and dementia. Future resources will include short educational videos from our Financial Exploitation Task Force experts explaining financial exploitation topics in everyday terms, as well as, a social media tool kit. Learn about Financial Exploitation by visiting www.aging.pa.gov/FE New Elder Abuse Awareness Web-based Training This interactive module is available to Commonwealth employees, Pennsylvania’s aging network and the public. The module was developed to reach a broad audience and covers the four major types of abuse and how to recognize them; signs to watch for, mandatory and voluntary reporting of abuse, when and how to report, and more. The training takes about 20 minutes to complete. This training is available on the PDA Learning Management System (LMS). Access the Online Training Module via PDA-LMS To access the online training module click the above button or navigate the path below: Visit https://www.pda-lms.org Scroll to the Training Resources section (see screenshot below) Select Elder Abuse Awareness Training (Note: Non-Commonwealth employees will not receive a certificate of completion for this course. Commonwealth employees who wish to have their completion certified can access this course by searching Elder Abuse in My Training on www.myworkplace.pa.gov). WEAAD is an opportunity for people and organizations to take action to protect older adults by raising awareness about elder abuse, why it occurs, and what can be done to stop it. Learn More About WEAAD Activities and Resources |
Domestic Violence Services (DVS) of Lancaster County
| See You May 26! |
| Dear Friends of DVS, As a primary care clinician at Union Community Care during these stressful pandemic days, I regularly see women who are trying to survive with limited resources for themselves and their children. The pandemic’s isolation has permitted intimate partner violence to continue – in a very frightening way. At UCC, we ask our patients about their safety at home in many different ways, and I hope that by doing this, we are giving folks an opportunity to ask for help, whether through verbal information, the texting number in our bathrooms, or referral to our embedded social work and behavioral health staff. In addition to supporting victims and survivors in my work, my husband, Lenny Walton, and I have personally supported DVS for many years in various ways – including introducing our friends and neighbors to this important cause. I would invite you to please join me at the first-ever DVS Mixer on May 26th and bring a friend to learn about DVS and widen our circle of caring. |
| Linda Gort DVS Supporter & Advocate2021 Catalyst for Change Awardee |
| Connect the Dots AND Bring a Friend! |
| Please join us for the DVS Spring Mixer! Thursday, May 26, 20225:30 – 7:30p.m.Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum2451 Kissel Hill Rd, Lancaster, PA 17601If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out! Please contact Brittany Mitchell, at bmitchell@caplanc.org or call 717-299-7388 ext. 3099 |
| Sponsorships are available and the key to our success! We seek business, organizational and individual sponsorships for our year-long series of events – as a package. Sponsors will receive even more recognition than in the past, as they will be featured at various events throughout the year. For more information, please contact: Kristy Aurand • Phone: 717-299-7388, ext. 3032 • Email: kaurand@caplanc.org |
| Other Ways to Support! |
| Do you want to help domestic violence survivors, but you aren’t sure what you can do? We’re here to help.We hope you will join us in standing up for survivors in October and always. Here’s how you can get involved:Sign up to be an advocate. Start a Facebook Fundraiser.Set up a monthly donation. Share your story. Become a sponsor.Attend the events.Schedule a Circle of Support. Thank You For SupportingVictims & Survivors! |
| Community Action Program of Lancaster County | 601 South Queen Street, P.O. Box 599, Lancaster, PA 17608-0599 |
Domestic Violence Services of Lancaster County
| See You May 26! Dear Friends of DVS, Spring is here, and we are so excited about the opportunity to gather with you in person at the Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum on May 26th! We recognize that we’ve changed it up this year. We have moved from the Saturday night Gala format, which was successful for so many years, to two more accessible gatherings, one on May 26 and the other in October. While change can be challenging, our intention with this shift is to mingle our longtime supporters with a new group of community members who will become dedicated to the DVS mission. For each ticket purchased, we encourage you to invite one new supporter to become more familiar with DVS’ work and with the challenges faced by domestic abuse survivors. While so many things have changed over the past two years, there are some things that remain the same. Our mission to end domestic violence is one. And the amazing support that DVS receives from the community to help support survivors rebuild their lives is another. Great food and drinks. Live music. Delicious desserts. A mission moment…We look forward to seeing you on May 26th! Wishing you safety and peace in your homes, Connect the Dots AND Bring a Friend! Please join us for the DVS Spring Mixer! Thursday, May 26, 20225:30 – 7:30p.m.Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum 2451 Kissel Hill Rd, Lancaster, PA 17601 If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out! Please contact Brittany Mitchell, at bmitchell@caplanc.org or call 717-299-7388 ext. 3099 Purchase Tickets HereSponsorship Opportunities Sponsorships are available and the key to our success! We seek business, organizational and individual sponsorships for our year-long series of events – as a package. Sponsors will receive even more recognition than in the past, as they will be featured at various events throughout the year. For more information, please contact: Kristy Aurand • Phone: 717-299-7388, ext. 3032 • Email: kaurand@caplanc.org Other Ways to Support! Do you want to help domestic violence survivors, but you aren’t sure what you can do? We’re here to help.We hope you will join us in standing up for survivors in October and always. Here’s how you can get involved: Sign up to be an advocate. Start a Facebook Fundraiser.Set up a monthly donation. Share your story. Become a sponsor.Attend the events.Schedule a Circle of Support. Thank You For Supporting Victims & Survivors! Support DVS with a One Time GiftSustain DVS with a Recurring Gift About Domestic Violence Services (DVS) of Lancaster County DVS is a catalyst to eliminate domestic violence in Lancaster County through direct service, advocacy, and social change. DVS offers 24/7 hotline and text line, emergency shelter, counseling, children’s programming, legal advocacy and representation, and transitional housing. All services are free of charge and strictly confidential. DVS hosts professional trainings and community education and prevention sessions for schools, businesses and community and faith-based organizations. For more information, visit caplanc.org/DVS. |
| Community Action Program of Lancaster County | 601 South Queen Street, P.O. Box 599, Lancaster, PA 17608-0599 |
Domestic Violence Lancaster County Spring Mixer – Save the Date: May 26!
| Save the Date! Connect the Dots AND Bring a Friend! Please join us for the DVS Spring Mixer! Thursday, May 26, 2022 5:30 – 7:30p.m. Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum 2451 Kissel Hill Rd, Lancaster, PA 17601 To expand our reach, we are giving away a free ticket for every ticket purchased! Bring a new friend or DVS supporter to the event at no additional cost. At the Mixer, we’ll have the opportunity to mingle and learn about what is happening at DVS in a fun, indoor/outdoor venue with live music, light food, and drinks. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out! Please contact Brittany Mitchell, at bmitchell@caplanc.org or call 717-299-7388 ext. 3099Will You Be Attending? LOCATION 2451 Kissel Hill Rd, Lancaster, PA 17601 DATE AND TIME 05/26/22 5:30pm – 05/26/22 7:30pm I’ll be there! Maybe I can’t make it Purchase Tickets Here Sponsorship Opportunities Sponsorships are available and the key to our success! We seek business, organizational and individual sponsorships for our year-long series of events – as a package. Sponsors will receive even more recognition than in the past, as they will be featured at various events throughout the year. For more information, please contact: Kristy Aurand • Phone: 717-299-7388, ext. 3032 • Email: kaurand@caplanc.org Other Ways to Support! Do you want to help domestic violence survivors, but you aren’t sure what you can do? We’re here to help. We hope you will join us in standing up for survivors in October and always. Here’s how you can get involved: Sign up to be an advocate. Start a Facebook Fundraiser. Set up a monthly donation. Share your story. Become a sponsor. Attend the events. Schedule a Circle of Support. Thank You For Supporting Victims & Survivors! Support DVS with a One Time GiftSustain DVS with a Recurring Gift About Domestic Violence Services (DVS) of Lancaster County DVS is a catalyst to eliminate domestic violence in Lancaster County through direct service, advocacy, and social change. DVS offers 24/7 hotline and text line, emergency shelter, counseling, children’s programming, legal advocacy and representation, and transitional housing. All services are free of charge and strictly confidential. DVS hosts professional trainings and community education and prevention sessions for schools, businesses and community and faith-based organizations. For more information, visit caplanc.org/DVS. |
| Community Action Program of Lancaster County | 601 South Queen Street, P.O. Box 599, Lancaster, PA 17608-0599 |
“Sexual assault in the military … “
“is a problem widely recognized but poorly understood. Elected officials and Pentagon leaders have tended to focus on the thousands of women who have been preyed upon while in uniform. But over the years, more of the victims have been men.
“On average, about 10,000 men are sexually assaulted in the American military each year, according to Pentagon statistics. Overwhelmingly, the victims are young and low-ranking. Many struggle afterward, are kicked out of the military and have trouble finding their footing in civilian life.
“For decades, the fallout from the vast majority of male sexual assaults in uniform was silence: Silence of victims too humiliated to report the crime, silence of authorities unequipped to pursue it, silence of commands that believed no problem existed, and silence of families too ashamed to protest.”
“We Prosecute Murder Without the Victim’s Help. Why Not Domestic Violence? | For years, cases in which victims didn’t want to cooperate were simply tossed out. Then a dedicated group of prosecutors found a better way.” – New York Times OPINION
“A portrait of Michelle Monson Mosure and her children, Kristy and Kyle, taken in the summer of 1999. It was given to Michelle’s family by the parents of her husband, Rocky Mosure, after he shot and killed all three.” – Creditvia The Billings Gazette
by Rachel Louise Snyder
“Domestic violence victims recant their testimony as much as 70 percent of the time, according to some estimates. People like Michelle do so to protect themselves against their abusers’ retaliation when they feel that authorities cannot or will not help.
“Once they recant, they’re often proved right. Authorities in many jurisdictions still believe that without victim cooperation, there’s no reason to prosecute. If a victim doesn’t care, the logic goes, why should anyone else?
“‘The criminal justice system,’ Ms. Tenney told me, ‘isn’t set up for uncooperative witnesses.’
“In the 1980s and ’90s, however, a group of dedicated prosecutors began to believe recanting didn’t have to be an impediment to legal action; after all, murder trials happened every day without victim cooperation.”
Read this opinion piece in its entirety at The New York Times.
Administration for Community Living (ACL) Seeking Feedback on Updates to Adult Protective Services (APS) Guidelines
The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is seeking feedback on draft updates of the National Voluntary Consensus Guidelines for State Adult Protective Services (APS) Systems. The Guidelines were published in 2017 to provide guidance to the APS field about effective practices. ACL is updating the Guidelines to incorporate new research findings and new areas of interest in APS practices and policies.
ACL is holding a series of webinars seeking feedback on the draft updates. Click the links below to register.
- Tuesday April 2, 2019, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET
- Thursday, April 11, 2019, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET
- Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET
- Monday, April 29, 2019, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET
- Friday, May 10, 2019, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET
ACL is also accepting written comments on all parts of the original and revised Guidelines. Submit comments here by May 31, 2019.
“California Looks To Lead Nation In Unraveling Childhood Trauma” – California Healthline
“What they found was striking. Almost two-thirds of participants reported experiencing at least one kind of adversity, and 13 percent — about 1 in 8 — said they had experienced four or more. Those who reported experiencing high doses of trauma as children were far more likely to have serious health problems as adults, including heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes. And the higher their ACEs score, the worse their health was likely to be.”
By Anna Maria Barry-Jester
“Imagine identifying a toxin so potent it could rewire a child’s brain and erode his immune system. A substance that, in high doses, tripled the risk of heart disease and lung cancer and reduced life expectancy by 20 years.And then realizing that tens of millions of American children had been exposed.
“Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, California’s newly appointed surgeon general, will tell you this is not a hypothetical scenario. She is a leading voice in a movement trying to transform our understanding of how the traumatic experiences that affect so many American children can trigger serious physical and mental illness.
“The movement draws on decades of research that has found that children who endure sustained stresses in their day-to-day lives — think sexual abuse, emotional neglect, a mother’s mental illness, a father’s alcoholism — undergo biochemical changes to their brains and bodies that can dramatically increase their risk of developing serious health problems, including heart disease, lung cancer, asthma and depression.”
Keep reading this article at California Healthline.
“Study Finds Spike In Pennsylvania Child Abuse-Related Deaths” – WESA-FM
“Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference at the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., Aug. 14, 2018. A Pennsylvania grand jury says its investigation of clergy sexual abuse identified more than 1,000 child victims.” — MATT ROURKE / AP
“A state study released Thursday (February 14, 2019) found the number of Pennsylvania children killed or nearly killed after abuse had occurred spiked recently, increases likely driven by a new definition of abuse and an uptick in its reporting in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky and Roman Catholic clergy child sexual abuse scandals.
“The state Human Services Department report into fatalities and near fatalities during 2015 and 2016 showed both types of reports were up sharply after being fairly level for the preceding six years.
“The number of substantiated fatalities and near fatalities ranged between 80 and 92 from 2009 through 2014. In 2016, that number was 127.”
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