Elder abuse in California is a reprehensible crime, and it is unfortunately common throughout the state. While catching signs and preventing abuse is ideal, it is sometimes impossible to get ahead of this kind of abuse. If you have reported elder abuse to adult protective services in California and are wondering about the next steps, here is our guide to who investigates these transgressions and what that entails:
Who Investigates Elder Abuse in California?
When one reports elder abuse in California, a few different entities investigate these reports. Elder abuse is a severe issue, and going through the proper channels is imperative to protect your loved one.
Still, navigating this complex process and ensuring your loved one receives justice requires the expertise of a premier elder abuse lawyer.
Adult Protective Services
The primary investigating entity for elder abuse is California Adult Protective Services (APS). Every California county has an APS agency.
The APS assists adults 65 or older and disabled dependent adults aged 16 through 64. The APS protects elderly individuals when they can no longer meet their needs or fall victim to abuse, neglect, or exploitation.
County APS agencies investigate reports of elder abuse in California for seniors living in private homes, apartments, hotels, or hospitals. Types of abuse they investigate include:
- Physical
- Sexual
- Abandonment
- Isolation
- Financial
- Neglect
- And more
The Long-Term Care Ombudsman
Furthermore, when you report a long-term care facility, you also must contact the ombudsman. An ombudsman is a public official who helps resolve resident issues in nursing facilities, investigates claims against facilities, and works to devise solutions.
Department of Social Services
The California Department of Social Services monitors senior facilities, like RCFEs, and assisted living.
If you have reported elder abuse in these types of facilities and they have not adequately addressed your concerns, file a complaint with the Department of Social Services, and they will investigate the situation.
Local Law Enforcement
If the situation is critical, it is important to call 911 and immediately involve law enforcement officials. Elder abuse in California is a crime, and reporting suspected abuse to local law enforcement is an integral part of this process.
Department of Public Health
Another investigating group in elder abuse situations in healthcare facilities is the Department of Public Health. Their involvement is largely due to their licensing and certification program, and elder abuse allegations can jeopardize these credentials.
The Investigation Process
After reporting abuse to adult protective services in California, officials conduct an investigation, which can be extensive.
APS investigates victims in the environment where the reported elder abuse in California is occurring. Essentially, California adult protective services examine:
- The mental capacity of an elderly individual.
- The extent of an elderly individual’s dependence.
- Whether or not elderly abuse took place
During this process, an APS official will contact the necessary parties for additional information regarding the reported abuse. This phase often entails interviewing the person allegedly being abused and anyone in that person’s surroundings.
However, depending on the circumstances and results, several more agencies can get involved and take action, such as licensing agencies, the long-term ombudsman, local enforcement, and social services. Different kinds of intervention can occur.
An ombudsman may work with a facility and staff to better accommodate the resident’s needs or use community resources to relocate them. Law enforcement may also arrest perpetrating caregivers, and facilities can also receive a fine or face a broader investigation.
If it is determined an elderly individual lacks capacity, the case may go to court to get guardianship. Understanding the investigation process and how to protect your loved one and ensure they receive justice requires the counsel of an expert elder abuse attorney.
Contact a Premier Lawyer for Elder Abuse in California Today
Elder abuse is a severe offense. If you suspect a loved one has endured such exploitation, contacting adult protective services in California and other agencies is essential to ensure they receive justice and protection. However, this process is complicated, and navigating the different legal channels to provide your loved one with the best quality of life requires the acumen of an expert elder abuse lawyer. Fortunately, at Gokal Law Group, we boast unparalleled expertise and an unending commitment to clients and their well-being.
Our passion is protecting victims of senior abuse like their guardian angels. We go above and beyond to preserve each client’s well-being and health and empower them to emerge with their dignity intact. Contact us now to receive justice.
4 Responses
There is a high prevalence of these crimes being committed against Dependent Adults living independently in private homes. The Elder Abuse law is actually called “Elder/Dependent Abuse” and should always be referred to as such. Omitting “dependent adults” invalidates the severity, prevents recognizing and reporting, and hinders adequate protection. This has resulted in a severe lack of legal resources available for vulnerable adults under age 65 with severe physical and/or mental limitations that are victimized in the same ways described here.
I am a 67 year old female to rent’s rooms only because in California, that’s all I can afford. I moved to a beautiful manufactured home in the mountains which was occupied by 2 middle aged males. It took me a little extra time to unpack because I’m disabled and can’t walk too far or too fast.
These men don’t want me here. The go out of their way to make things harder for me and both are slobs. There is not room here to go into details but I’ll give one example: One roommate refuses to put his clean dishes away but yells at me if I do. The other waits until I bring the rest of belonging that included several outdoor plants, to take the hose so I can’t use it. He said he needed it for work. He’s said that excuse for several other things too. So now I have to carry 2 gallon buckets of water around to water my plants as well as other plant/flowers around the house. I’ll get myself a hose but why take it when he knew I needed it? I’m on a fixed income and hoses aren’t cheap. He also brought home a roll of bathroom paper towels for us rather that share the real paper towels he has up high on HIS shelf. I”m managing but I could get out of bed this morning my back hurt so bad.. This is not right! Any time I do anything that they think will get me to leave, they call the landlord and tattle. The other day was 2 plants I had left on HIS table accidentally when was exhausted, plus he griped about a box the counter in the kitchen. I was marked “kitchen stuff”and it was far away from the actual kitchen on a peninsula that is used as bar seating. I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried to be nice but they don’t know that language, apparently, because most times they ignore me. I WON’T MOVE…THEY can move. Especially the one who shared a bathroom with me. I’ve cleaned the top half of poop and urine stains before I would even use it and asked him if he could please clean the outside of the bowl and the bottom where the bolts are. There’s a puddle of pee on both sides. He says: I don’t pee down there. I said: it was there when I moved when I cleaned your pee and poop splatters on the bottom of the seat and I can’t get down on my hands and knees to clean the rest. He refuses to do it. I deal with stuff like from them daily. I don’t know what to do, but one thing I do know is : I’M NOT MOVING. They can move.
I am an Elderly Disabled Adult Dependant Veteran who is being abused by her caregivers and every agency I have contacted has done absolutely nothing for me not even the police will help me other than stir the pot and made things worse for me by contacting the caregiver first before even discussing situation with me and the caregiver took it out on me by neglecting me even more to the point she stopped working completely. My attorney at the ACLU AND APS has called the police Department and the police still refuse to arrest them even though they have been advised that there is abuse, neglect theft of my items and have put me in such a state of fear of further harmI am scared to death to even see their faces or return home and endure further abuse which gave the caregiver time to lock me out of the home I pay for she and her boyfriend have been living off of my small SSDI check and now have my home and I am living in my car!! My caregiver has not even called me once to see if I am okay and I have not been home for over 96 hours and the police won’t even give or let alone offer me a restraining order to protect me and/or my home. Back in the winter of 1988 I pledged to protect and defend the constitution of the United States, why isn’t it protecting me now? So now not only am I being abused by caregivers, the system that was designed to protect me in now in fact abusing me too!! I am so disappointed and disgusted and angry and still I stir in my car with my service animal with a very soiled diaper on and a few hours earlier I had to breathe the life back into my only true friend and companion, my service animal Zeus almost died from heat stroke and three nights ago I was sexually assured in my car and still no one helps !!! Where is my Justice? Please help me get my Justice!! I’m sick with cancer as well so I don’t know how much time I have left so please help me give me something to hope and believe again because at this point I’ve already got nothing left so I have nothing to lose which could make a person very dangerous but all I want is Justice and for those who did nothing to be held accountable and yes I want to be compensated and should be for what I have had to endure as a result of their negligence!!!
How can I get a copy of an elderly abuse investigation which I reported and never heard back from APS?