A study of the potential of using older people as aides in child welfare services involved interviews with 467 older people and 95 social work professionals in New Jersey. Focus was on relationships among individual differences such as attitudes and beliefs, potential areas of conflict between staff and the elderly volunteer, and what roles and tasks the experienced professionals felt older people could carry out. Interview schedules dealt with demographic variables such as age, sex, and race as well as with attitudes toward children, aging, and self and others. A literature review examined the problems which surround the elderly and the abusing parent. Analysis of data concentrated on the attitudes of professionals toward the concept of using the elderly in child welfare services and on the distinguishing features between elderly people who are involved in programs and those who are not, between volunteers and those who are reimbursed, and between those who are likely to volunteer or work and those who are unlikely to. Recommendations include these: (1) increase funding and available slots for elderly in such programs as Green Thumb and the Foster Grandparent Program, (2) lift programatic and income restrictions and restructure Social Security rules to allow older people to earn more money, (3) provide extensive training programs for both the elderly and for the professionals with whom they will be working, and (4) study such possibilities as involving the private sector in provision of work for the elderly, restructuring the work day, and establishing a U.S. Savings Bond series for financing work programs for older people. (Questionnaires are included.) (JT)