The Administration for Community Living (ACL) Office of Elder Justice and Adult Protective Services (OEJAPS) provides grants and contracts with organizations to support the development of systems and programs that prevent abuse from happening, protect people from abusive situations, support people who have experienced abuse to help them recover, and preserve and promote their independence, choice, and financial security.
With funding from ACL, our Elder Justice Prevention grant in Texas helped create a pioneering collaboration between APS, a healthcare system, and researchers with the result that over 500 patients, primarily with an allegation of self-neglect, were reported to APS. Many of these patients would have failed to come under the radar of protective services or receive supportive services. With funding from an Elder Justice Innovation grant, we developed a proactive case-management intervention to link at-risk patients with home- and community-based services and prevent them from becoming self-neglecting or face other negative outcomes. This self-neglect intervention is now being tested further with APS clients in Oklahoma through a State APS Enhancement Grant, which aims to further improve APS practice.
Farida Kassim Ejaz, Ph.D., LISW-S, FGSA
Senior Research Scientist
Center for Research and Education
Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging
OEJAPS is committed to supporting efforts to ensure adults are afforded similar protections and services, regardless of their state or jurisdiction. ACL facilitated the development of the first National Voluntary Consensus Guidelines for State Adult Protective Services Systems to assist states in developing efficient, effective programs.
National Voluntary Consensus Guidelines for State APS Systems
The best way to intervene in the problem of elder abuse is to prevent it from happening in the first place or to intervene as early as possible so as to mitigate its consequences. In 2018, OEJAPS funded the creation of an inventory of screening and assessment tools for adult maltreatment.
The National Adult Protective Services (APS) Process Evaluation is based on research conducted by the APS Technical Assistance Resource Center. This evaluation was designed and implemented to describe the current landscape of APS program structure and operations across the United States. It is available in two reports:
OEJAPS is proud to partner with a variety of community organizations to make an impact on elder justice issues. We work cooperatively with community partners such as private entities, non-profits, and institutions of higher learning and professions such as legal, social, and financial services. OEJAPS grantees and contractors have made substantial progress toward advancing the field of elder justice via projects such as:
This report examined the impact and reach of 24 State Grants to Enhance Adult Protective Services. It Identifies the impact of state APS enhancement grants, analyzes the reach of these grant, and outlines significant findings for future planning
This report is the fifth annual release based on 2020 data from the National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System (NAMRS), which is a voluntary data reporting system collecting data from state adult protective services systems. All states, territories and district contributed data to this report. The report features a special chapter on the potential impact of COVID-19
OEJAPS provides funding to resource centers which disseminate information to professionals and/or the public; provide technical assistance and training to states, community-based organizations, and professionals; and collaborate on research.