Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73

§1397l Establishment and support of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation forensic centers

Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 7— - SOCIAL SECURITY › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER XX— - BLOCK GRANTS AND PROGRAMS FOR SOCIAL SERVICES AND ELDER JUSTICE › Part Part I— - National Coordination of Elder Justice Activities and Research › Subpart subpart b— - elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation forensic centers › § 1397l

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary, working with the Attorney General, must give grants to qualified groups to set up and run both fixed and mobile forensic centers and to build forensic skills and services for elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Four of the grants must go to colleges or universities with forensic expertise to run fixed centers, and six must go to groups to run mobile centers. Grantees must use the money to help decide if abuse or a crime happened, to study and share signs that abuse occurred, and to create ways for doctors, emergency workers, social services, and legal staff to know when and how to act or notify police. Grants must also fund medical and forensic exams, therapy, victim help, case review, and case tracking. The Secretary and Attorney General will use grantee data to train geriatric health workers and law enforcement to collect forensic evidence. Groups must apply to the Secretary to be eligible. Funding authorized: $4,000,000 for FY2011; $6,000,000 for FY2012; and $8,000,000 for each of FY2013 and FY2014.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §1397l

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary, in consultation with the Attorney General, shall make grants to eligible entities to establish and operate stationary and mobile forensic centers, to develop forensic expertise regarding, and provide services relating to, elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

(b)The Secretary shall make 4 of the grants described in subsection (a) to institutions of higher education with demonstrated expertise in forensics or commitment to preventing or treating elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation, to establish and operate stationary forensic centers.

(c)The Secretary shall make 6 of the grants described in subsection (a) to appropriate entities to establish and operate mobile forensic centers.

(d)(1)An eligible entity that receives a grant under this section shall use funds made available through the grant to assist in determining whether abuse, neglect, or exploitation occurred and whether a crime was committed and to conduct research to describe and disseminate information on—

(A)forensic markers that indicate a case in which elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation may have occurred; and

(B)methodologies for determining, in such a case, when and how health care, emergency service, social and protective services, and legal service providers should intervene and when the providers should report the case to law enforcement authorities.

(2)An eligible entity that receives a grant under this section shall use funds made available through the grant to develop forensic expertise regarding elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation in order to provide medical and forensic evaluation, therapeutic intervention, victim support and advocacy, case review, and case tracking.

(3)The Secretary, in coordination with the Attorney General, shall use data made available by grant recipients under this section to develop the capacity of geriatric health care professionals and law enforcement to collect forensic evidence, including collecting forensic evidence relating to a potential determination of elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation.

(e)To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, an entity shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require.

(f)There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section—

(1)for fiscal year 2011, $4,000,000;

(2)for fiscal year 2012, $6,000,000; and

(3)for each of fiscal years 2013 and 2014, $8,000,000.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 1397l

Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73