Federal Complaint-Handling, Ombudsman, and Advocacy Offices

Book excerpt: Federal complaint-handling, ombudsman, and advocacy offices have different forms, capacities, and designations. This report identifies the basic characteristics of these offices, recognizing differences among them with regard to their powers, duties, jurisdictions, locations, and resources, as well as control over them. The report consists of three parts: (1) an analysis of the ombudsman concept and a brief look at which countries around the world have used ombudsmen; (2) a breakdown of the various ways in which federal complaint-handling offices differ; and (3) an identification and description of selected ombudsman-like offices, including specifics on their origins and operations. This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find report.