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pthornton Asked November 2014

Do you think this is legal and what should we do about it?

We hired a personal support agency to help provide care for the mentally disabled son of our elderly mother. Recently we caught the director inside their home trying to obtain the deed to her house & asking for all of her financial information (bank accts, CDs, account numbers, etc) Why do you think she would be asking for this information (& deliberately circumventing her POA!)? What should we do about it?

pthornton Nov 2014
Txcamper, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. Your advice was good and certainly worth consideration but I hadn't supplied enough information for you to rule out anything. In some cases that could easily be the correct explanation. Thanks for your input and I hope you (or anyone else!) has to ever experience this type of abuse. She has done so much more damage than I've listed here but there just wasn't enough room to explain it all!!!

xxxxxxxx Nov 2014
Well, I am uninformed, since we've not been in this situation. It was just a thought. Good luck with your investigation.

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pthornton Nov 2014
Thanks so much texarkana! We hadn't thought of contacting them yet! :-)

pthornton Nov 2014
Yes, we did ask but have yet to receive an acceptable response. Also, you only need to supply the amounts of any assets to apply for benefits. They do not require account numbers or the deed to her home to apply for benefits and services for him.

xxxxxxxx Nov 2014
When you caught her in their home, didn't you ask what was she doing? And why did she need this info? I should think that would've been the time to ask and the person to ask. What comes to my mind is that she was thinking about applying for services that are based on income and assets. Actually, your husband having POA doesn't mean they HAVE to ask him, only that they could've. Unless she's been declared incompetent, she can answer for herself. Your brother would likely have no assets, so his mother's would be the ones they would be looking at. This is just my opinion, of course.

timbuktu Nov 2014
I sent you a message, contact your State Attorney General's office, also call the corporate office of this agency.Also does your state have an elder abuse hotline, if so call it. This is horrible.

pthornton Nov 2014
We have fired them & reported her behaviour to both her supervisor and local authorities. No one seems to be willing to take any action since she was unable to "obtain" the information due to our safeguards and even though we have proof in her writing & also witnesses. I guess we have to wait until she steals someone's house & kicks the elderly and disabled occupants out on the curb to stop her???? We are VERY concerned about the risk to other unsuspecting and vulnerable families due to her position in the caregiving community! We know we aren't the only family who trusted her.

LearningCurve Nov 2014
Fire them, get the keys back and might I add - report them to whatever agency oversees this criminal behavior including your local district attorney.
Society cannot continue to allow this. We MUST stand up to these abuses.

geewiz Nov 2014
This behavior is not ethical, I would get the keys back and fire this agency immediately.

pthornton Nov 2014
No. My husband is her POA (full financial & medical) and this woman is fully aware of that. She is the director for the home healthcare agency that we hired to provide support for the mentally disabled son who lives with his mother (they have never been asked to provide any services for her at all). The woman didn't ask him for the information even though she knows he is POA for BOTH of these people.

sunflo2 Nov 2014
Maybe they are just gathering financial information to evaluate what support services, future residential care, financial support, etc. that mom and disabled son would qualify for. Did you or mom ask them for such a consultation? Is it part of their service you may not have been aware of?

Just ask the director what the purpose of this is. Inform her that you are POA and can also help provide such info and also that you want to be included in the inquiry and any care plan or recommendations they may make.
You can also check the BBB to see if there are any problems reported with this Agency. If you think that something inappropriate is going on...fire them AND REPORT them to all moms creditors, banks, etc. to make sure they don't use the info obtained to date to do anything illegal or steal identity ..

sunflo2 Nov 2014
Confront her and ask her directly. Keep in mind, she may be compiling this financial information in order to see what care, residential care, financial and support services disabled son and mom qualify for.

Before you pass judgement ask. Also just inform her you are POA and can also provide information and inform her you would like to be included in the inquiries and any care recommendations related to mom and disabled son.

If you suspect something else is going on, report to BBB or contact attorney or other to investigate.

freqflyer Nov 2014
Are you saying that the support agency director has Power of Attorney? Is it a medical POA or financial POA, or both? If said POA includes financial, then yes, she has a right to know about such information.

Eyerishlass Nov 2014
I don't know what a personal support agency is. Is this home healthcare? Did you hire caregivers? Regardless, no one you hire to come into the home has any business snooping around for financial records whether they're a caregiver, a "personal support agency" or the plumber. Fire the person and report them to their superior.

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