OAKLAND, Calif. (KCBS)  -- California social service agencies field about 200,000 reports of suspected elder abuse every year, but the state’s ability to investigate those claims could diminish even as our population ages.

Mary Twomey, co-director of the Center of Excellence in Elder Abuse and Neglect at UC Irvine, said she is watching closely whether 75 social worker positions are eliminated from the state budget.

“What that translates into is about 20,000 reports of elder abuse per year would go uninvestigated,” she told KCBS's George Harris.

Twomey was among the hundreds of public health workers, lawyers, psychologists and police attending the 4th Annual Elder Abuse Conference in Oakland Monday and Tuesday trying to develop more effective means of combating a problem experts believe is likely to increase as more baby boomers turn gray.

KCBS's George Harris reports

(jro)