What is Eldercaring Coordination?
Eldercaring coordination is a court ordered dispute resolution process during which an eldercaring coordinator assists families to resolve disputes with high conflict levels that impact the elder’s autonomy and safety.
Eldercaring Coordination Can Help
A court orders eldercaring coordination when it wants to ensure an aging person is safe and well cared for but believes the family conflicts may be jeopardizing those goals. The court may refer a family for eldercaring coordination when there are:
Multiple court motions raising non-legal issues or competing petitions for appointment as guardian or conservator
Concerns about an aging person’s care and safety
Imbalances of power where only some parties have legal representation
Frequent disputes about unmeasurable or unsubstantiated issues
Possessive or controlling behaviors toward the aging person
When mediation has not been effective
Download : A Comparison of Elder Mediation and Eldercaring Coordination
Families identified for the process may have a difficult time agreeing to anything, let alone a dispute resolution process. The court’s order to participate in eldercaring coordination gives those families a way to resolve disputes, ensures family members know the importance of working together, and provides accountability for the court-ordered participants caring for the aging person.
Eldercaring coordinators (ECs) have the academic knowledge, substantial conflict resolution skills and extensive practical experience to work with the elder, family members, and professionals. Eldercaring coordinators:
Manage high conflict family dynamics
Support the aging person’s self-determination for as long as possible
Facilitate the creation and implementation of an eldercaring plan
Promote safety by monitoring at-risk situations
Develop a support system for the aging person and family
Eldercaring coordination reduces conflict among family members so they can work together more productively and focus on the older adult’s care. Eldercaring coordinators are appointed for a term of up to two years, so they have the opportunity to identify and reduce risks, increase safety, and address elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.
What Eldercaring Coordination Can Do For You
Save money and time
Fees are shared instead of incurring individual court expenses
Nonlegal issues resolve without waiting for court hearings
Decrease family conflict
Family decision-making centers on the aging person rather than adversarial actions
Solution focus emphasizes strengths of family members, not blame
Meet the needs of aging persons and their families
Family privacy and aging person’s dignity are preserved
Stigma of “incapacity” is avoided when family members work together to provide care of aging loved ones