Guide to the Development of Statewide Standards

For the Delivery of Legal Assistance to Older Americans

Statewide standards can be defined as a set of guidelines which describe and define the essential elements involved in providing high-quality, high-impact legal assistance to older persons in greatest need of assistance, and which set out the major responsibilities and roles of the key actors and agencies involved in the legal advocacy system.

This TCSG publication is a step-by-step guide to the process of developing statewide standards, based on the experiences of 18 states (as of 1994) which worked with The Center for Social Gerontology (TCSG) to develop standards. Although the Guide is slightly out of date, the process described represents TCSG’s thinking on how best to approach this task, and reflects the learning from the many and varied experiences of the different states. The Guide has been reviewed by the Administration on Aging and the process was endorsed by the Assistant Secretary for Aging, Fernando Torres-Gil, as a good approach to developing effective standards that will be accepted and followed.

50 pages. January 1994. For a free download of the publication, please click here.