Organizations Working Together to Protect the Elderly in Taiwan.

This article uses a network approach to examine the coordination of protective services for the elderly in Taipei City, Taiwan. This article aims to examine the network structures and organizational roles in protective services for the elderly. The results indicate that a variety of organizations were involved in the protective service network for the elderly in Taipei City. The diversity of agencies working together supports literature claims that no single type of organization can provide a comprehensive range of services for the elderly who need to be protected. In terms of network structures, the results show that patterns of interorganizational coordination do depend on the kind of resources being exchanged. There are substantial exchanges among agencies in the client referral network, which is in contrast to fairly low levels of exchanges that exist in the other types of exchange. Taipei City has made an effort in developing a coordinated client referral network to protect the elderly since client referral serves an important function for organizations to meet the multiple needs of the elderly.