Growing up in Roxbury, Andrea’s life was filled with instability. When Andrea was eight months old, she lost her mother to a car accident while going to visit her father in prison. She and her brothers bounced around – living with relatives and sometimes in foster care – until her father got out of prison when she was eight years old, and she met him for the first time.
Andrea and her family relied on public housing and food assistance while her grandmother struggled with alcoholism. Her two brothers sadly cycled in and out of the prison system. She lost her twin brother Andre, when he passed away while in the custody of the Department of Corrections as a pre-trial detainee.
Andrea understands that we owe our elders more than just our respect – we owe them an opportunity to live long and healthy lives in their communities, free from the hardship caused by scams, fraud, and unequal access to health care. Age-based discrimination, elder neglect and abuse, and scams and frauds occur every day. Our aging residents will have an advocate with Andrea in the Attorney General’s Office.
As Attorney General, she will establish an Elder Justice Unit. Though the Attorney General’s Office currently has an Elder Hotline and dedicated staff available to answer questions and connect residents with resources, more can and should be done to promote the safety and security of older residents. The Elder Justice Unit will blend resources from the Attorney General’s Criminal and Public Protection & Advocacy Bureaus to work together with other stakeholders to focus on: