• Thirty-five APS Programs serve all vulnerable adults age 18 and above; two serve only persons with disabilities aged 18-59, and seven serve older victims only.
• All APS programs investigate abuse, neglect and exploitation in community settings. Almost half (47%) investigate in nursing homes; 60% in assisted living facilities; 70% in board and care homes; 42% in developmental disability facilities; and 40% in mental health facilities. 
• A significant majority of states a) triage reports at intake; b) maintain regular contact with the client during the case; and c) are required to report at least some cases to law enforcement.

APS increasingly operates in a multi-disciplinary environment and most programs strive for quality control:

• At least 32 states report that APS participates in multi-disciplinary teams, 80% of which operate without funding. The majority of teams include representatives from law enforcement, legal/court/criminal justice agencies, and domestic violence, health care, mental health, and developmental disabilities organizations. Eighty-eight percent focus on handling specific cases.  
• Over 70% of states have quality control programs, and three-quarters of those states review every case. One-quarter of all states have no such systems, however.  

Reports are increasing while staffs are being reduced but APS staff tend to stay in the program:

• Almost nine in ten (87%) programs have seen the number of reports and caseloads increase in the past five years, with the increases ranging up to 100%.
• Almost half (47%) of the reporting states have had reductions in APS staff in the past five years.
• Despite these difficult circumstances, APS turnover rates seem to be low. The states which track turnover rates report them to be in the 15% range.   

APS Programs and professionals are administratively fragmented and training requirements vary:

• About one-third of APS Programs are administratively located in the State Unit on Aging, while over half are in the state's department of social or human services. Two are independent state agencies.   
• In two-thirds of the states, APS is state-administered; i.e., all APS employees are state employees. In eight states, APS is county-administered. Other states administer the program in a variety of settings.  
• In about a third of the states, APS investigators and supervisors work in other programs in addition to APS (child protective, aging or disability services).  
• Two states provide no pre-service training for new workers. Forty-three provide annual in-service training to APS investigators and caseworkers.
• Forty APS programs train APS supervisors; of those, 20 states provide APS-specific training, and 20 do not. Nine provide no training to APS supervisors.  

Automated data systems are now the norm and almost half of all states operate abuser registries.  

• Forty-six states now have automated APS data systems. In 28 the system is integrated with another one, such as child protective services or elder case management. Currently, however, it is not possible to aggregate states' APS data into a national database to better ascertain the scope and nature of elder and vulnerable adult abuse.
• Twenty states operate abuser registries. In eleven, the registry is limited to APS; in nine, it is operated by another program.

 

This survey generated a great deal of data, which we hope to analyze and disseminate in more depth in the coming months.  

NAPSRC partner, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD), has completed a report on evidence-based practices in adult protective services. Evidence-based practice involves practice that has used the scientific method to evaluate outcomes that are based on observable and measurable data.  Two surveys were utilized to collect data for the report.  The initial survey collected information on programs that utilize evidence-based practice.  The follow-up survey delved deeper into these practices and collected specific information on validity, reliability and evaluation in the field.

 

View the recent webinar on the report here.

View the full report here.

 

Do you have a recent success story, a new program initiative, or a revised training you'd like to share with your APS colleagues across the country? Do you have an upcoming conference or other event you'd like people to know about? Would like to further honor your state and local APS award winners? Please send a brief description in an email to napsrc@apsnetwork.org.