Description:
Adult Protective Services (APS) is a state-mandated program that helps to ensure the safety of the county’s vulnerable residents. Its function is to address situations of potential abuse and neglect for seniors and adults-at-risk, in situations where the person may not be able to look after their own safety because of the person’s health condition or disability.
Abuse is defined as the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, treatment without consent, and unreasonable confinement or restraint. Self-neglect means a person’s physical or mental health is in significant danger because the person is unable to provide adequate food, shelter, clothing, medical, or dental care for his or herself. Persons over the age of 60 are considered elderly and adults-at-risk are persons between the ages of 18-59, who “has a physical or mental condition that substantially impairs his or her ability to care for his or her needs and is at risk of experiencing abuse or self-neglect.
Elder and adult-at-risk abuse is often under-reported because the person is often too embarrassed to admit that he or she has been taken advantage of or neglected by a family, caregiver, or stranger.