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Abstract: 

Older women who are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault often need specialized services. This article provides an overview of the challenges of working with this population of victims and the types of services they need. While older and younger victims of domestic violence share many common needs, older women often face additional challenges (e.g., issues related to collecting Social Security). Further, shelters are frequently not set up to deal with the needs of battered elderly women. The author offers suggestions for enhancing the response to the needs of older victims, including developing rapid response teams, advocates who specialize in elderly victims, and cross training of domestic violence/aging services providers.

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Affiliations:  1: American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging; 2: University of California at Hastings; 3: Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence; 4: Disability Rights Wisconsin.