San Francisco's Forensic Center: Building PG and APS Collaboration Talitha Guinn Elder Abuse Prevention at IOA Jill Nielsen, LCSW Adult Protective Services, City and County of San Francisco Mary Ann Warren, JD Office of the Public Guardian, City and County of San Francisco
44
Embed
San Francisco's Forensic Center: Building PG and APS Collaboration Talitha Guinn
San Francisco's Forensic Center: Building PG and APS Collaboration Talitha Guinn Elder Abuse Prevention at IOA Jill Nielsen, LCSW Adult Protective Services, City and County of San Francisco Mary Ann Warren, JD Office of the Public Guardian, City and County of San Francisco. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
San Francisco's Forensic Center: Building PG and APS Collaboration
Talitha GuinnElder Abuse Prevention at IOA
Jill Nielsen, LCSWAdult Protective Services, City and County of San Francisco
Mary Ann Warren, JD Office of the Public Guardian, City and County of San Francisco
Goals of Presentation Explore APS and PG frameworks for protecting vulnerable
adults. Facilitate communication between APS and PG to improve
the quality of APS referrals for conservatorship and to facilitate the investigation process for conservators.
Learn how a multi-disciplinary forensic center model can improve client outcomes and enhance coordination and understanding between the PG and APS.
Learn to build collaboration between the PG and APS.
How does the Forensic Center improve APS/PG collaboration?
Neuropsych evaluations as valuable tool Cross-training about roles of partner agencies Neutral communication forum Early intervention – allows PG to provide
feedback about information needed and possible alternatives
More appropriate and robust referrals from APS
Our ModelWe are a true public/private partnership
Community-based No medical center or medical model (LA and UCI)
Our partners are representatives from the following agencies: DAAS
APS Public Guardian (PG)
SFPD District Attorney City Attorney Ombudsman IOA – Coordinates FC IOA contracts to provide
The San Francisco Elder Abuse Forensic Center will prevent and combat the abuse, neglect and exploitation of elders and dependent adults in San Francisco. This will be accomplished with the following strategies:
Improve communication and coordination among the legal, medical, social services professionals who investigate and intervene in cases of elder and dependent adult abuse.
Increase access to potential remedies and justice for those who have been victimized.
Educate policy makers, professionals, caregivers, older adults and their families about preventing, reporting, and stopping elder and dependent adult abuse.
Abandonment 8Abduction 4Isolation 17Neglect 71physical - assault/ battery 37physical -Chem. Restraint 3physical -Restraint or deprivation3Psychological 60Self-Neglect 62Sexual 5Fin. Real estate 46 Total Financial Abuse 165Fin. Other 119Other/unknown 141 *Undue Influence
576 (multiple types of abuse per case)
Total Meetings (FC & MDT) 144
Psych Clients 127FC Clients 360Total Clients 487
AVG Age 75Med Age 78
# %Men 138 38.33Women 217 60.28Group 5 1.39
360 100.00
Our next data project is mapping abuse by zip code and type!
What Is Adult Protective Services?
Adult Protective Services is a county-based program that intervenes to remedy or reduce danger to dependent adults and elders who are at risk of physical, sexual, mental or financial abuse, neglect or self-neglect.
To assist older adults and adults with disabilities and their families maximize self-sufficiency, safety, health and independence so that they can remain living in the community for as long as possible and maintain the highest quality of life.
Mission of the Department of Aging and Adult Services
To protect and care for the person and to administer the estate of those who, without assistance, cannot provide for the basic needs of food, shelter, or clothing or are unable to resist fraud or undue influence
There must be evidence that the proposed conservatee is unable to properly provide for his personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter
There must be evidence of a correlation between the deficit and the need for conservatorship
There must be evidence of an urgent need - such as the need for a medical procedure or the need to safeguard assets in imminent danger of loss.
The probate conservatorship is not renewed automatically; it remains in place unless the conservatee or conservator petitions the Court for termination at any time
Left in bed without blankets, windows open in winter Fell ill and hospitalized, but not for over 5 days FC meeting Emergency psych evaluation Emergency conservatorship Restraining order Placed safely and anonymously
Building Collaboration through the Forensic Center
Interdisciplinary Education Learning about the limits of APS authority Role of the probate court for PG cases Medical, social work education for partners such as law
enforcement Common understanding that conservatorship is not
$40,000 overseas so that the taxes and handling fees would be covered. He mentioned this to the bank teller as he exited the bank with a money order in hand. The bank teller called APS. APS knew who to call at SFPD, the PG, and the DA’s office. That same day, the police were able to intercept the payment at FedEX before it went out, and saved Mr. W’s life savings. The PG prepared and served a “2900” on the bank to marshal his assets. The PG then petitioned for conservatorship after obtaining a psychological evaluation through the Forensic Center.
Mr. W. thought he won the lottery. All he had to do was send
Elder financial abuse can be both a civil wrong and a crime. Civil remedies primarily seek to help victims recover from the consequences of exploitation; criminal sanctions seek to punish and deter such wrongful conduct. both serve important public policy objectives and promote the legislature’s goal of reducing or eliminating elder financial abuse. While the same wrongful conduct can create both civil and criminal liability, the legal requirements and the practical considerations of each differ significantly. Generally, civil lawyers are unaware of the requirements for a successful criminal prosecution; similarly, prosecutors are often unaware of the requirements for a successful civil action. both may be frustrated that the other lacks greater interest or insight. The purpose of this publication is to bridge this gap by providing an overview of the law, issues, and practical concerns of elder financial abuse from both a civil and criminal perspective. its goal is to promote understanding between prosecutors and victim’s lawyers with the expectation that this will lead to greater cooperation and thereby help reduce elder financial abuse
Hard copies available at the IOA tableDownload the PDF here: http://www.ioaging.org/File%20Library/Abuse/CivilCriminalResourceGuide_0512.pdf
The Journey Continues. We have grown as a team and we continue to re-evaluate our structure, and services, in an effort to improve outcomes for our clients.