Leading the way in

PUBLIC POLICY & ADVOCACY

Promoting safety, independence, and quality of life for the most vulnerable adults in our society.

FEDERAL FUNDING

Tell your Congressional members about the importance of APS funding. Email a message or make a phone call. Helpful resources and templates in the NAPSA Advocacy Toolkit!

STATE APS LAWS

Find resources and research on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Law and Aging web page.

POLICY INITIATIVES

NAPSA has focused its national policy work in the following areas:

Federal Funding for Adult Protective Services

Elder Justice Act Reauthorization

Social Security Block Grant

Public Policy

GOALS

NAPSA is dedicated to promoting the safety, independence and quality of life for the most vulnerable adults in our society: the frail, the elderly, and persons with physical and/or intellectual disabilities who are abused, neglected and exploited. To achieve this goal, NAPSA works to achieve the following goals:

Be the national voice for these largely invisible victims of crime and abuse
Improve public awareness about how widespread, very serious and very expensive vulnerable adult and elder abuse are
Advocate for national support for protective services for these victims, and build the capacity of APS throughout the country to more effectively serve them
Encourage and support research into effective prevention and intervention strategies for elder abuse and vulnerable adult abuse and APS
Expand legal protections and remedies to victims of abuse
Form partnerships with other national organizations to address adult abuse

Public Policy

GOALS

Be the national voice for these largely invisible victims of crime and abuse.

Improve public awareness about how widespread, very serious and very expensive vulnerable adult and elder abuse are.

Advocate for national support for protective services for these victims, and build the capacity of APS throughout the country to more effectively serve them

Encourage and support research into effective prevention and intervention strategies for elder abuse and vulnerable adult abuse and APS

Expand legal protections and remedies to victims of abuse.

Form partnerships with other national organizations to address adult abuse.

Note to all APS programs

The U.S. Administration for Community Living Promulgates Final Rules for APS

The U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL) has issued the first proposed rules for Adult Protective Services (APS). This proposal has a significant impact on programs across the country including access to APS formula grant funding.

We appreciate the critical comment submissions from APS and allied organizations. Comments are public and you can view them at Regulations.gov (https://www.regulations.gov/docket/ACL-2023-0002). NAPSA appreciates the input from members on comments. You can review NAPSA’s submitted comments here.

Updates and information from ACL are available at https://acl.gov/APSrule. NAPSA has developed the following tools based on requests from members and welcomes your input and recommended changes. Note these do not supersede instructions by ACL or your program’s legal counsel.

ACL APS Regulations Comparison – Proposed vs Final – This document provides a redline comparison between the fall’s proposed regulation and the final regulation promulgated.
ACL APS Regulations – Suggested Tool for Assessing Compliance – This tool lays out each section of the regulation in a table to assess where your program currently is and here is needed to meet compliance requirements.

About the

ELDER JUSTICE ACT

The first comprehensive legislation to address elder abuse, the bipartisan Elder Justice Act (EJA) was introduced in 2002 and enacted into law in 2010. The Act authorizes $100 million in the first federal funding provided for state and local Adult Protective Services Programs. Additionally, $25 million was authorized for APS demonstration programs.

The first Elder Justice Act funding was in 2015 at just $4 million. The first funding directly to state APS programs through formula grants was in 2020 with the COVID Relief Act at $93.88 million. Through the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 the Administration for Community Living provided a further $249.706 million to states. To date, Congress has appropriated no money for APS formula grants during regular appropriations.

The EJA also provides additional support for the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, would create elder abuse forensic centers, authorizes an Elder Abuse Coordinating Council for federal agencies as well as an expert public Advisory Board on Elder Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation, and requires the reporting of crimes in long-term care facilities to law enforcement.

For more information on the Elder Justice Act, please refer to the following links:

Bi-partisan

PARTNERSHIPS

NAPSA engages in coalitions and partnerships to advance the interests of APS at the national level.

Elder Justice Coalition – The EJC was created in 2003 to advocate for passage of the Elder Justice Act. Led by National Coordinator, Bob Blancato, NAPSA was a founding member of the coalition and remains on the steering committee (https://www.elderjusticecoalition.com/)
Leadership Council of Aging Organizations – LCAO is a coalition of nearly 70 national non-profits representing interests of the older population in the policy-making arena. NAPSA is an active member of the coalition and co-chair of the Community Services subcommittee.
Social Services Block Grant Coalition – The SSBG Coalition is made up of organizations representing the diverse populations served by SSBG, from children to older adults.

FOCUSED LEADERSHIP

As we pursue our goals, NAPSA strives to:

Be the national voice for these largely invisible victims of crime and abuse
Improve public awareness about the widespread, very serious and very expensive nature of vulnerable adult and elder abuse
Advocate for national support for protective services for these victims, and build the capacity of APS throughout the country to serve them more effectively
Encourage and support research into effective prevention and intervention strategies for elder abuse and vulnerable adult abuse and APS
Expand legal protections and remedies to victims of abuse
Form partnerships with other national organizations to address adult abuse

Public Policy

CHAMPIONS

NAPSA’s policy work is carried out with the assistance and dedication of Bill Benson, NAPSA’s National Policy Director, and Kendra Kuehn, Policy Associate, as well as the Public Policy Committee, which sets the direction of all the organization’s advocacy work.

SOCIAL SERVICES BLOCK GRANT

The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), created under President Reagan, funds states to provide social services to their residents. Each state decides how its block grant will be allocated. Thirty-seven states use part of their SSBG funds to support Adult Protective Services. While this is currently the only federal money supporting Adult Protective Services, the decisions to use it for this purpose are made at the state level. For more information, see this report from the Office of Community Services at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

NAPSA is a long-time member of the Social Services Block Grant Coalition. Along with many other major social services associations, NAPSA works collaboratively to advocate with the U.S. Congress to maintain current levels of that SSBG funding.

The Coalition released a Faces of SSBG report highlighting the different areas SSBG funds: https://www.naco.org/blog/naco-releases-joint-report-importance-social-services-block-grant.

INCREASING AWARENESS

In addition to participating in the Elder Justice and SSBG Coalitions, NAPSA also works to raise the visibility of Elder and Vulnerable Adult Abuse and APS. Through engagement with national leaders as well as the public, NAPSA:

Meets regularly with Congressional staff, other federal employees, and allied national organizations to educate and advocate regarding issues of elder and vulnerable adult abuse, the specific needs of APS clients, and unique challenges facing APS programs.
Provides testimony at Congressional hearings and briefings:
- Testimony at U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, March 2, 2011
- Statement presented at a Senate briefing, June 2, 2011
- Statement presented at Older Americans Act stakeholder listening session, October 11, 2011
- Statement to the US Dept. of Labor’s Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, July 20, 2011
Advocated for the establishment of a National Adult Protective Services Resource Center, similar to those federally funded for the fields of aging services, child protective services, general victims’ services, domestic violence and sexual assault programming and many other fields. The first such center was created in late 2011 with a modest discretionary grant from the Administration on Aging. NAPSA is now working to have the Center institutionalized in the Older Americans Act with a level of funding comparable to those of other such centers.
Requested a groundbreaking General Accountability Office (GAO) study of Adult Protective Services, which led to their report, ELDER JUSTICE: Stronger Federal Leadership Could Enhance National Response to Elder Abuse. The report recommended that the federal government, in particular the Administration on Aging, assume more of a leadership role in addressing elder abuse, in particular by assisting APS to deliver more effective and efficient services to victims. It also led to the March 2, 2011 Senate Special Committee on Aging, at which Mickey Rooney testified about his own financial exploitation by his stepsons. Mr. Rooney’s courage and eloquence in describing his personal ordeal created, at least temporarily, a much higher public awareness of elder abuse. NAPSA testified at the same hearing.
Is working with the GAO again on their current examination of elder financial exploitation.

NATIONAL APS SURVEY

Identifying Needs & Policies

Through the National Adult Protective Services Resources Center (NAPSRC), NAPSA conducted a comprehensive survey of all state APS administrators which provided critical information about APS budgets, staffing levels, reports of abuse, data collection systems, multi-disciplinary efforts and regional training programs.

This report was extremely useful in assisting with the implementation of the Elder Justice Act.

More about the National APS Survey

To lay the groundwork for implementation of the EJA, NAPSA worked with Appleseed’s Life Long Justice initiative, spearheaded by Marie-Therese Connolly, in surveying APS administrators across the country to ascertain their priorities for utilizing new federal monies.

Some of the key findings were:

Most APS programs report severe staff and funding shortages;
The majority of programs need funding, staff, training, resources for data collection, more collaboration, research, and technical assistance;
APS wants and needs assistance from HHS (the types of assistance cited could be provided by a robust resource center);
Frequently cited challenges include financial exploitation, guardianship issues, inconsistent laws, and rare justice system action.

NAPSA also proposed that the Elder Justice Coalition hold a multi-disciplinary meeting on implementation of the one EJA provision which did not require an appropriation, which requires long-term care facilities to report suspected crimes occurring on their premises to law enforcement. The meeting included representatives from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the long-term care industry, aging advocates and law enforcement to discuss the best methods to effectively implement this provision.

Interested in learning more about state APS laws? Please see the American Bar Association’s ‘Commission on Law and Aging’ web page focused upon: Resources and Research.

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

Contact NAPSA

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PUBLIC POLICY & ADVOCACY

FEDERAL FUNDING

STATE APS LAWS

POLICY INITIATIVES

GOALS

GOALS

Note to all APS programs

The U.S. Administration for Community Living Promulgates Final Rules for APS

ELDER JUSTICE ACT

PARTNERSHIPS

FOCUSED LEADERSHIP

CHAMPIONS

SOCIAL SERVICES BLOCK GRANT

INCREASING AWARENESS

NATIONAL APS SURVEY

More about the National APS Survey

ABOUT NAPSA

NAPSA OFFICES

MYNAPSA

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Are you concerned someone you love or care about may be the victim of abuse? Don’t be silent. Report it now. All calls are confidential.