{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/mccaskill-teams-up-with-southwest-missouri-advocate-to-highlight-incidents-of-elder-abuse", "McCaskill Teams Up With Southwest Missouri Advocate to Highlight Incidents of Elder Abuse", "2016-11-30", "2016", "2016-11", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "McCaskill Teams Up With Southwest Missouri Advocate to Highlight Incidents of Elder Abuse \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t Senator: We can\u2019t allow those entrusted to protect seniors to abuse them    \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWednesday, November 30, 2016\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON \u2013-U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill was joined by Springfield-area advocate Jessica Kruse as she continued her bipartisan push to ensure that Missouri seniors are protected from neglect and abuse by legal guardians. Kruse, from Ozarks Elder Law in Springfield, Missouri testified at a McCaskill hearing today focusing on preventing abuse by individuals who are court-appointed guardians.\r\nThe hearing took place in the Senate Aging Committee, which is led by McCaskill and Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine. Ms. Kruse discussed some of the challenges that local law enforcement and prosecutors in Missouri face when attempting to combat elder financial abuse. According to the most recent published statistics, the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services received over 17,000 initial reports of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of seniors in one year. It\u2019s unclear how many of these cases involve financial exploitation specifically.\r\nPointing to a recent report recommending better inter-governmental communication, McCaskill asked, \u201cThe problem is, when Social Security finds out there is fraud they are not sharing that information with state courts, even though they share it with other federal agencies\u2014what\u2019s the rationale for that? The (Social Security Administration) have caught someone ripping someone off, what in the good lord\u2019s name are they doing keeping that information from state authorities?\u201d\r\nLast year McCaskill asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to update a report it issued in 2010 which found examples of serious abuse, particularly by individuals who make their livings as professional guardians. In conjunction with the hearing, GAO released its report titled \u201cElder Abuse: The Extent of Abuse by Guardians Is Unknown, but Some Measures Exist to Help Protect Older Adults.\u201d The report described recent incidents of abuse, but also explained that data on this type of abuse is not closely tracked or collected and that greater effort in this area needs to be made in order to protect seniors. \u00a0\r\nIn addition to Kruse, witnesses for the hearing included Kathryn Larin, Acting Director; Forensic Audit and Investigative Services Team, Government Accountability Office; Cate Boyko, Manager of the Minnesota Conservator Account Auditing Program; Jaye Martin, Maine Legal Services for the Elderly.\r\nVisit mccaskill.senate.gov/seniors to learn more about McCaskill\u2019s fight for seniors.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/mccaskill-teams-up-with-southwest-missouri-advocate-to-highlight-incidents-of-elder-abuse"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4455539640039206, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}