U.S. Representative Gwen Graham from Tallahassee, Florida, recently announced that she plans to introduce new legislation that would allow states to create a searchable registry of those convicted of elder abuse.
As reported in a recent jcfloridan.com post, “Graham legislation would create elder abuse registry,” Congresswoman Graham made the announcement during a “Workday” event in Tallahassee. She was assisting Elder Care Services in delivering prepared meals to senior citizens in the area.
Graham remarked that the proposed legislation would direct the Department of Justice to create a model registry for use by states. This would be a searchable registry to help identify people who were found to have committed abuse, neglect, mistreatment or financial exploitation of any individual over the age of 65 in that state.
Congresswoman Graham said the federal government would then compile the information on state registries and make the data available in a national database. States could then mandate that health care providers run a person’s name through the registry before hiring that worker.
“My new legislation would create a registry to identify those who have been convicted of abusing or scamming seniors and prevent them from causing more harm,” said Graham.
Graham said statistics from the Florida Department of Children and Families show there were more than 2,500 cases of elder abuse and neglect in the state during 2015. Florida has seen a 74% increase in the past five years.
Delaware and some other states already have similar registries in place. Florida doesn’t; however, even though the state doesn’t currently have a registry like the one Graham is proposing, failure to report known or suspected abuse of elderly or disabled adults is a crime.
Reference: jcfloridan.com (June 2, 2016) “Graham legislation would create elder abuse registry”