NAPSA

SUCCESS STORIES

See how APS professionals are working to help victims of mistreatment.

Improving

QUALITY OF LIFE

Every day, APS workers strive to improve the quality of life for victims of mistreatment. Sometimes they are able to do it on a grand scale—such as rescuing victims from horrible abuse, returning their life savings, or saving their lives by getting them emergency medical care. Other times, APS helps in a more subtle ways like facilitating in-home help for victims, arranging transportation to medical appointments, securing home delivered meals, and more.

Victims of mistreatment may be reluctant to accept help for many reasons. APS workers honor each individual’s right to decide what help, if any, he/she is willing to accept. Because change can be difficult and frightening, APS workers focus on incremental changes aimed at reducing harm and improving the quality of life for each APS recipient.

See how APS is helping victims of Physical & Sexual Abuse, Neglect & Self-Neglect, and Financial Exploitation by reading some of the Success Stories below.

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PHYSICAL & SEXUAL ABUSE – APS Success Stories

NOTE: The names of all participants have been changed to protect their privacy.

Carolyn Grant

Carolyn is 21 years old, and is autistic with moderate intellectual disabilities. She attends a special school program to assist with her disabilities. On a recent field trip, Carolyn’s teacher left her and two male students unsupervised in the school van for a brief period of time. While the teacher was gone, one of the young men took Carolyn’s shirt off, fondled her bare breasts, and took a picture of them. When the students returned to school, he showed the pictures to other students. Carolyn told her mother about what happened and her mother contacted APS for help.

APS assisted by:

Helping Carolyn and her mother apply for victim assistance counseling services to help her cope with the distress she was experiencing
Facilitating the process of transferring the young man to another school which could provide more adequate supervision
Working with Carolyn’s school to improve overall student supervision

NEGLECT and SELF-NEGLECT – APS Success Stories

NOTE: The names of all participants have been changed to protect their privacy.

Gloria Fielding

APS received a report that Gloria Fielding, a very frail 88-year-old woman, needed care for all activities of daily living. Ms. Fielding was legally blind, extremely hard of hearing, unable to walk and suffered from dementia. She was confined to a hospital bed placed in the basement of her home by her caregiver. Ms. Fielding owned two houses. Her primary residence was so severely neglected as to be uninhabitable. The caregiver stated that the dilapidated condition of the house was the reason Ms. Fielding was moved into the basement, while the caregiver resided in Ms. Fielding’s other home.

When the APS worker investigated the report of abuse, she heard yelling coming from Ms. Fielding’s garage but could not gain access to the house. A neighbor offered to help the APS worker by calling the caregiver. The caregiver drove to Ms. Fielding’s house and upon arriving, opened the garage door and drove her car right into Ms. Fielding’s bed, knocking it with her bumper.

The basement had no furniture beside the hospital bed. The floor was littered with used hypodermic syringes. The caregiver stated that Ms. Fielding’s medical doctor pre-filled the syringes and instructed her to inject Ms. Fielding whenever she requested.

Upstairs, numerous photographs of Ms. Fielding’s physician were found throughout the residence. The APS investigation discovered that the M.D. had received large monetary gifts from Ms. Fielding, had engaged in sexual relations with her and had recommended the caregiver to Ms. Fielding.

Despite Ms. Fielding’s frailties, when the APS worker interviewed Ms. Fielding, she reported that she was being abused by her doctor and caregiver.

APS assisted by:

Arranging for Ms. Fielding to be hospitalized for a thorough medical evaluation
Assisting in Ms. Fielding’s relocation to a skilled nursing facility
Referring the case to the police Fraud Department. They arrested the caregiver for elder neglect and she is in jail awaiting trial
Filing an official complaint against the physician with the County Counsel’s Office and the FBI. The M.D. is currently under investigation for participating in several elder financial abuse cases involving real estate scams
Referring Ms. Fielding to the Probate Court for conservatorship/guardianship to provide ongoing support and protect her from further neglect

Buddy Norris

Buddy Norris has an intellectual disability and mental health problems. He lived with his mother who managed all aspects of his life for him until her death several years ago. Mr. Norris’s only time away from his mother was the couple of years he spent in the army as a cook. After Mr. Norris’s mother died, he moved into a licensed Board and Care home. The owner of the facility made Mr. Norris clean the house and do all the yard work. Often he did not receive adequate food and nutrition. When the licensing agency discovered the inadequate care the residents were receiving, the facility’s license was revoked.

APS tried to help Mr. Norris move to a safer, better home, but he was fearful and declined to move at that time. The APS worker continued to engage with Mr. Norris for close to a year before Mr. Norris decided to try relocating to another facility.

APS assisted by:

Locating an assisted living facility that could provide a healthy and safe living environment for Mr. Norris
Assisting Mr. Norris in moving to his new home
Locating Mr. Norris’s Veterans Administration (VA) records to apply for his pension, medical benefits and attendant care benefits, and assisting him in completing applications for caregiving services
Arranging primary medical care for Mr. Norris as he hadn’t seen an M.D. in a decade
Transporting Mr. Norris to all follow-up medical appointments
Arranging for Mr. Norris to participate in an Arts Program to enhance his social activities

After three months, Mr. Norris had adjusted nicely to his new home. He had made friends with many of the other residents and was participating in new activities through the Arts Program. Mr. Norris informed APS that he was now very happy and liked his new home a lot.

Sally Thomas

APS received a report on Saturday afternoon from a hospital regarding Ms. Thomas, a frail 88-year-old female. On Thursday, the hospital determined that Ms. Thomas was ready to be discharged. Because she was weak and had difficulty moving about and getting up from a chair by herself, the hospital recommended that she transfer to a rehabilitation center to regain her strength. Ms. Thomas refused, and so late Thursday afternoon the hospital sent her home. She lived alone in a one-bedroom apartment with no known relatives or social support, and refused in-home caregiving assistance.

On Saturday when the hospital telephoned Ms. Thomas to monitor her medications, there was no answer. They called APS to investigate. The APS worker also was unable to reach Ms. Thomas by telephone, so he went directly to her apartment. There was no answer despite repeated knocking on her door and ringing the doorbell.

The APS worker called building security and the building manager, but they refused to offer access to the apartment unless law enforcement was present, so the APS worker called emergency services and police were dispatched. When police arrived, building security opened the door and the APS worker entered with the police and located Ms. Thomas sitting on her toilet where she had been stationary for six hours because she was too weak to stand up by herself. Ms. Thomas was overjoyed someone had discovered her because she couldn’t yell loud enough to get the attention of neighbors and feared she would die alone in her bathroom.

APS assisted by:

Called the paramedics to transport Ms. Thomas to the hospital for further evaluation.
Following Ms. Thomas to the hospital and made sure she was readmitted to the hospital.
Working with the hospital to ensure that adequate home care services were in place before Ms. Thomas was discharged home.
Advocating to make sure that Ms. Thomas accepted the in-home care services and that they addressed her needs

Ms. Thomas was very thankful for the APS worker’s help and was happy to be safe in her home.

FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION – APS Success Stories

NOTE: The names of all participants have been changed to protect their privacy.

Jean’s Story

My name is Jean. I am 65 years old and I am a victim of financial exploitation. For the past couple of years I have struggled emotionally because of personal problems. I felt overwhelmed and could not handle my financial affairs. My brother, Bob, offered to help and I gratefully accepted. I gave him complete access to my money. But instead of managing my finances, he stole my life’s savings, more than $304,000. I trusted my brother to look out for my interests, but he instead took advantage of that trust and took all my funds and left me financially destitute.

I didn’t realize what was happening and it was not until I began working with APS that I found out what my brother had done. They discovered that he pillaged my retirement accounts, opened installment loans and credit card accounts in my name without my permission or knowledge, used my credit card without my permission, and failed to pay my bills and income taxes.

Unfortunately, I went to APS too late to save my house from foreclosure, but they were able to help me save my car, cancel the credit cards he took out in my name, and remove him from my savings and checking accounts.

With APS’s help I am trying to get my financial affairs together again.

They are helping:

Resolve my credit problems,
Negotiate with the IRS regarding my back taxes, and
Get restitution from my brother for the money he stole from me

Thanks to APS, I have a future.

Samuel Sonora

Mr. Sonora was a 90-year-old widower with dementia who, despite his memory and cognitive problems, was able to manage living on his own. His wife died a few years earlier and he had no family living in the region, but his out-of-state relatives telephoned him regularly to make sure he was doing okay. The relatives became concerned about his well-being after a married couple approached Samuel and offered to help him around the house and perform minor home repairs. Initially Mr. Sonora welcomed their assistance and the relatives were happy he was getting help but soon the couple had taken over supervising his care, controlling his money, and restricting his access to his family.

After several unsuccessful attempts to reach Samuel, the relatives called the couple to find out where he was. The couple did not know Samuel’s whereabouts. The relatives called APS. The couple then reported him missing to the police. Two days later, Mr. Sonora was located wandering at a bus terminal in a Midwestern city, some 1,000 miles from his home. He had no idea how he had arrived there and authorities took him to the hospital for observation.

The couple flew to the Midwestern city and brought him back to their home. When APS learned of Mr. Sonora’s return, an APS worker visited Mr. Sonora to verify his well-being and find out where he wanted to live. Mr. Sonora said he did not want to stay with the couple, so APS arranged for him to be transported to the assisted living facility of his choice to ensure he was safe and received proper care.

The APS investigation revealed that the couple had written checks for tens of thousands of dollars from Mr. Sonora’s bank account for “maintenance work” but there was no evidence of any work being performed at his residence. The couple also couldn’t explain how Mr. Sonora, under their supervision, could have gotten himself to a bus depot, purchased a long-distance ticket, and boarded the bus ending up 1,000 miles away. APS referred the evidence to law enforcement to pursue the couple for elder financial abuse. APS contacted Mr. Sonora’s extended family, and with his blessing, they arranged to take over his care and estate. He gladly agreed to sell his property and be relocated near his family.

APS assisted by:

Verifying Mr. Sonora’s whereabouts and safety
Coordinating adequate care for Mr. Sonora’s needs
Reporting concerns about potential financial abuse to law enforcement
Assisting Mr. Sonora in reconnecting with his family

Daniel Folsom

APS received a report of suspected elder financial abuse when a 78-year-old male was seen repeatedly wiring large sums of money to international accounts offshore. The APS worker met with Mr. Folsom who described $8 million in lottery winnings he was trying to collect by sending “legal processing fees” to a Nigerian government official. Mr. Folsom lived independently by himself and still drove to the grocery store and appointments. He admitted that he was a bit frustrated because he initially was told it would only cost $5,000 to “release the funds” to him, but there seemed to be an unending series of delays and bureaucratic snafu’s which had resulted in him ending wire transfers of more than $80,000 in the last year.

Mr. Folsom became quite emotional as he described how he had even taken out unsecured loans for $25,000 from the bank so he could send the money required by the Nigerian government official. Mr. Folsom displayed no insight that this was a type of fraud known as a lottery scam. In fact, when the APS worker asked how the situation had unfolded, it became clear that Mr. Folsom could not comprehend the scam or its consequences. Further, even when he began to have suspicions about the veracity of the lottery “winnings”, he simply couldn’t stop or protect himself from the scam.

Mr. Folsom began having trouble paying his bills because of the additional monthly payments he now owed the bank for the unsecured loans. Mr. Folsom refused repeated attempts to have assistance from law enforcement, from legal aid, from a fiduciary to manage his finances.

The APS worker established a relationship with Mr. Folsom and learned he had named a power of attorney for finances in his estate plan. APS consulted with Mr. Folsom and his power of attorney about assuming the role of fiduciary. Mr. Folsom initially disagreed, but as he began receiving calls from collection agencies and realized he could lose his house, he agreed with the APS worker to transition oversight of his finances to his power of attorney.

Mr. Folsom never received his lottery winnings but remained living independently in his home until he died a year later.

APS assisted by:

Verifying Mr. Folsom was being financially abused by a lottery scam
Honoring Mr. Folsom’s request to refuse involving legal aid or law enforcement
Enlisting Mr. Folsom’s financial power of attorney to protect his assets from further abuse
Keeping Mr. Folsom safely in his residence for the remainder of his life

Harriet Fung

Harriet is 85 years old and her husband, Henry, is 83 years old. They live independently, although it is getting increasingly difficult for Henry to climb the flight of stairs to their apartment. Their income is modest, both receive social security benefits. Harriet manages the finances for the household.

Because of Henry’s incapacitation, Harriet grew worried about what the couple would do when he could no longer make it up the stairs. She looked into senior assisted living apartments but couldn’t afford them. Then one day she received a notice in the mail that she had won a large cash prize. She was thrilled. This was the nest egg she and her husband needed to pay for assisted living. Harriet gladly paid the $3000 necessary to claim her winnings, but when she did she was told there was a problem and more money was needed. Again, she paid the requested amount.

Harriet was caught in a lottery scam. The scammers played on her vulnerability and were out to milk her for all she was worth. Fortunately, her bank noticed the unusual withdrawals she was making and notified APS.

APS assisted by:

Helping Harriet understand the scam she fell prey to and how scammers manipulate their marks
Preparing her for the continued attempts from the scammers to get her money and support her in resisting them
Working with the bank to protect her remaining assets
Notifying law enforcement in the U.S. and Canada of the scam
Arranging for money management service

Sadly, Harriet did not get her money back, but she did not lose any more money.

Cecilia Green

APS received a call from Cecilia Green’s daughter, Deborah, because her mother’s utilities had been cut off. Cecilia was 68 years old at the time and lived in her own home with Janice, one of her two adult daughters. Cecelia had multiple sclerosis and used a wheelchair to get about. Because her home had a flight of stairs and she had no wheelchair ramp, Cecilia was homebound. Janice was her sole caregiver and did all the shopping and errands, including paying the bills and handling all the banking.

When APS looked into the situation they discovered that Janice had a gambling problem of which Cecilia was unaware, and Janice had depleted all of her mother’s funds to repay her gambling debts. Cecilia did not want any legal action taken against her daughter. She wanted Janice to continue to live with her and be her caregiver.

APS assisted by:

Facilitating to have Cecilia’s other daughter, Deborah, manage her mother’s finances
Arranging to remove Janice’s access to her mother’s money
Contacting utility companies to arrange to reconnect services and negotiating a payment schedule to repay amounts past due

Virginia Lee

Virginia Lee is a 63-year-old woman with a disability that severely limits her mobility. She had allowed a much younger male acquaintance, Dave, to move in with her because he could not afford his own place. Virginia didn’t know that Dave had a drug and alcohol addiction when she allowed him to move in, but she soon found out when he stole her credit cards and personal belongings to support his drug and alcohol addiction. She asked him to leave and he refused.

Virginia called the police to file a report on her stolen credit cards, called her financial institutions to notify them of the fraudulent use of her money/credit, and called a lawyer about evicting Dave. She was stunned to find out that Dave had legally established residency in her home because Virginia had allowed him to stay for the prior three months. When APS met with Virginia she was despairing about her situation. She was in constant fear that Dave would attack her in a drug and alcohol-fueled fit of rage.

APS assisted by:

Exploring with Virginia ways to get Dave out of her home
When Virginia decided to evict him, educating her on the process
Providing her with the required forms, assisting her in completing them, and helping her have the papers served on him

Fortunately, Virginia did not have to go through the long and costly process of eviction. When Dave realized she wasn’t backing down, he vacated her home.

Bill Clauson

Mr. Clauson and his wife, Joy, had been married for 52 years when she died. They had one son, Ken, with whom Mr. Clauson was close, but Ken was often away. Without Joy, Bill’s life seemed empty and he had trouble finding the energy to take care of himself. A neighbor, Susan Young, who was 40 years his junior, befriended him. She cooked meals and ran errands for him and took him to the movies, restaurants, and on other outings. Soon she was the central person in Bill’s life.

At first Ken was happy that his father had company and was getting out of the house. However, after awhile he realized that his father was giving Susan expensive gifts and large sums of money. When Ken asked his father about these gifts, Bill was unaware of them. Ken became alarmed that Susan was manipulating his father to get money and was so skilled at it that Bill wasn’t even aware it was happening. Ken started calling various agencies to report what was happening. He called the police, district attorney’s office and aging services agencies, but none was able to help. It wasn’t until he called APS that he got the help he was looking for.

APS assisted by:

Validating Ken’s fears
Investigating and confirming his belief that his father was being exploited
Providing sufficient evidence to convince the district attorney’s office to prosecute Susan Young

Terri Taylor

APS received a report that an 84-year-old female, Terri Taylor, was being financially abused by a relative who had assumed control of Ms. Taylor’s estate while she was hospitalized for a stroke. Ms. Taylor had lived independently until this medical episode. After a couple of months of recuperation, Ms. Taylor’s relative decided to terminate the lease on her apartment, dispose of her personal belongings and arrange for Ms. Taylor to be placed in an assisted living facility – all against Ms. Taylor’s wishes.

APS assisted by:

Getting evaluations of Ms. Taylor by her own medical doctors to verify she could independently attend to her own affairs
Referring Ms. Taylor to legal assistance services which helped advocate on her behalf to have her financial assets returned
Ms. Taylor eventually regained control of her assets and returned to living independently according to her own wishes

Ted Kaiser

Ted Kaiser is a 79-year-old man who was brought to a local hospital after attempting suicide. Ted was intimidated by two cousins who moved in with him and forced him to sign over the deed to his house. His cousins then sold the house for $8,500 and spent the money on drugs. APS was called.

APS assisted by:

Involving the police in the investigation
Gathering evidence to prove that at the time of the transfer of his home, Mr. Kaiser was not mentally capable of consenting to it
Police issued warrants on two of Mr. Kaiser’s cousins.

Linda Louie

Linda Louie is a 78-year-old female who suffers from dementia. She is very confused and does not understand what is going on around her. She lives with her granddaughter, Shirley. Shirley and her brother, Gene, take turns financially exploiting their grandmother. Gene withdrew $216,000 from his grandmother’s account and Shirley withdrew $124,000 to buy a vacation home. Shirley filed a complaint against her brother because she has power of attorney for her grandmother and she did not approve the withdrawal.

APS assisted by:

Working to remove Shirley as the power of attorney
Securing a court supervisor guardianship for Ms. Louie
Involving the police who are investigating for possible criminal charges

Overview of NAPSA’s

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In the more 20 years that NAPSA has existed, our organization has worked tirelessly to advance the field of Adult Protective Services, raise awareness of elder and adult abuse, and advocate on behalf of those victims. Below are HIGHLIGHTS of our accomplishments:

Training, Professional Development & Awards

Created a Code of Ethics and Best Practice Guidelines for APS.
Participated in the National Training Partnership with San Diego State University’s Academy for Professional Excellence to develop professional training curriculum in 23 practice-specific competencies for APS workers.
Partnered in the National Center on Elder Abuse from 1999 to 2011 to assist in the development of:
NAPSA annually confers the only awards for outstanding contributors to the field of APS and to the work of serving elder and vulnerable adult abuse victims.

Events, Boards & Conferences

Created a Code of Ethics and Best Practice Guidelines for APS.
Hosts the only annual National Elder and Vulnerable Adult Abuse APS Training Conference.
Hosts an annual National Summit on Elder Financial Exploitation.
In 2011, created a National Elder Financial Exploitation Advisory Board.
Quarterly “research to practice” webcasts since 2010

APS Research & Resources

Established the first ever National APS Resource Center in 2011.
Publishes an APS newsletter and listserv.
Created a training archive.

Public Policy and Issue Advocacy

NAPSA advocated for federal APS legislation and funding for over 20 years.
NAPSA helped form the Elder Justice Coalition and worked closely with that group to get the Elder Justice Act passed and is now working to have it funded.
In 2010, NAPSA advocated for a report on APS by the General Accountability Office, resulting in a public hearing before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging.
In 2011 NAPSA represented APS at the Kohl Senate Aging Committee hearing on Elder Justice and at numerous other national meetings, conferences, and symposia.
NAPSA has worked to make sure that APS is represented in all the proposed legislation and national policies that would have an impact on abused and neglected seniors and adults with disabilities.

Membership & APS Community Support

Membership has increased from a handful of APS administrators in 1989 to over 500 APS and allied professionals in 2012.
Provides technical assistance and referrals to APS and allied professionals, students, and victims and their families searching for information and help with vulnerable adult abuse.

ABOUT NAPSA

The National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA) is a national non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization with members in all fifty states, D.C., and the territories. Formed in 1989, the goal of NAPSA is to provide Adult Protective Services (APS) programs a forum for sharing information, solving problems, and improving the quality of services for victims of elder and vulnerable adult mistreatment. Its mission is to strengthen the capacity of APS at the national, state, and local levels, to effectively and efficiently recognize, report, and respond to the needs of elders and adults with disabilities who are the victims of abuse, neglect, or exploitation, and to prevent such abuse whenever possible.

NAPSA OFFICES

NAPSA (National Adult Protective Services Association)

Address:
1612 K Street NW #200
Washington, DC 20006

Phone:
(202) 370-6292

Hours:
9am – 5pm EST

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SUCCESS STORIES

QUALITY OF LIFE

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Training, Professional Development & Awards

Events, Boards & Conferences

APS Research & Resources

Public Policy and Issue Advocacy

Membership & APS Community Support

ABOUT NAPSA

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