"You should call APS" - What's your true experience? Did they REALLY provide concrete help? In ways you expected? Or not?

My BIL suffered from some mental health issues. His condo was worse than a pig sty and the neighbors got bed bugs from his mess. Someone reported him to APS. APS sent him a letter but I don't know if anyone ever showed up. I then reported him myself when he moved to a new apartment. The representative called me and advised he knocked on the door and my BIL told him he was recovering from surgery and asked if he could come back another time. APS never contacted him again and when he died in that apartment, it was as big of a mess as the condo he moved out of (in about 4 years). We alerted the apartment complex early on that he had brought bed bugs with him but they did nothing either. This was in Tucson, Arizona so I don't know if your experience will be the same. But I don't have much faith in that system at all. We had also tried to talk to his doctors (a social worker and also the apartment complex) about having him declared incompetent so my husband could take over but they did nothing. Everyone told us he could make his own decisions, even if they were bad ones. But it affected people around him in the condo, the apartment, when he went out to eat (which was multiple times daily and he hadn't showered in months)... Sorry for the late response, but I knew I would start a rant and I needed to be able to sit down and concentrate a little. I hope you found a solution to your problem.

In my long experience as a homecare worker and homecare business owner, I've had to call on APS more than a few times. I'd say APS effectiveness depends on what state you're in and also what area of that state. Where I am (CT) they're pretty good about coming out and investigating a claim, but this state's bar on what is considered a 'vulnerable adult' or an unsafe situtation is very low indeed. I have called APS on elders I worked for that were living alone and completely out of it with dementia. APS would come and observe that they had food, were clothed, and could tell them what their name, address, and birthday were. They normally will ignore that the elder is living in filthy, dangerously hoarded homes though. It's pretty much the same with children too. The respond, but the standards what is considered unsafe home are mighty low.

In a city like San Francisco I'm going to say that the respources of APS are probably stretched very thin with what that city is like now. I lived in San Francisco for a while. This was before it was overrun with homeless drug addicts. There was some, but not like now. Friends of mine still living there say it's bad. So I'd imagine that unless a person is literally naked on the street cutting themselves, APS isn't going to do much out there.

My only experience with APS so far has been positive.

My SIL/BIL lived with FIL and were his primary caregivers. We were the only backup - anytime they couldn't be there, DH or I would go stay with FIL.

My nephew was getting married an 8-hour drive away. Of course, SIL and BIL needed to be there - they are his parents. So at first we volunteered to stay with him. But nephew and SIL both wanted us there - nephew had very few people from his side that could make the trip. So we decided to schedule 24/7 care.

At first FIL agreed to it - though he was salty that we weren't willing to take him to the wedding and stay in a house with him 24/7 (not sure what that would have accomplished and he couldn't attend the wedding because he was mostly bedridden and couldn't get on the beach to attend. Taking him with us meant someone missed the wedding, and we would have to arrange a very different kind of housing including an elevator, delivery of a hospital bed, toilet risers and other medical equipment. And we would pay a premium for all of that). So he agreed to 24/7 in his home care.

Then as we got closer, and SIL and I put together a notebook of instructions, restaurants, medication, etc - he started getting itchy. Then a week before, he flat out yelled at us that DH and I had to cancel our trip and stay with him. We told him we were not doing that, everything was arranged. He said that if we went, he would fire the caregivers.

There was a precedent. He did this once before for a very short time period when no one lived with him, and no one was nearby and were all working. He let them come one day and he told them not to come back. So this was a very real threat and we would be 8 hours away.

We told him that he would be on his own because we were not coming back to help him early if he fired his help. (it was mostly paid for by respite care and a little bit extra, it wasn't about the money).

He maintained that he was of sound mind. And that he would fire them. And that we would get in trouble for leaving him alone.....

So I called APS. I told them the situation, that he was still competent and what we were doing. They advised that we go on our trip, that we had done everything possible to set him up for success, and it was documented. That if he chose to fire the caregivers, he would be on his own and no one to be blamed but himself. That as he was still competent, that he was free to make stupid choices, but they came with consequences.

And then I went back to him, and I told him that I called APS and told them about him (that freaked him out) and that they said that we should still go and if he fired his caregivers, that was his choice, but also that we weren't coming home to take care of him. That we had done all we needed to do and we weren't going to be on the hook for it. That APS AND the SHERIFF that we talked to via APS both said that if he fired them, it was not on us. That he would have to figure out how to take care of himself until we got home.

He grumbled about it a lot....but ultimately - we went. He never once called us. We had to call and check on him with the caregivers. He was totally in heaven with 24/7 attention - it was actually laughable.

But our experience was positive. Note though that they didn't really have to get involved, only advise.

I am in northern California. I needed an ambulance to take my 38 year love, life, and support partner to the hospital for physical therapy after he had a strained thigh after a fall. I took care of him until he had good painless range of motion of that leg. I asked for an ambulance. Instead the managers called for a "welfare check". I have seen the ambulance come here at least one hundred times and there were no police involved. The police came first. That was a total shock to him and to me. The large police officer started saying strange things that made no sense. I said, "I see you have your judgements." In retrospect it appears that they are mandated to make an APS report. This is not an humane situation.

It appears that they made a false APS report saying neglect due to some fantasies of his. The large police man told me to talk with the smaller police man in the hallway. I did that calmly.

APS reports are totally unknowable, unsearchable, untouchable. This proposed APS report is causing us six months of emotional pain, because the so-called care center (which is about 100 miles away) does not let me visit him. This is also against the so-called regulations of medical facilities. With lawyer advise I made a complaint to the California Department of Public Health about this violent separation. After months of their "investigations" they ended up sending me the lies of the institution as their results.

Three months ago they sent my partner as "almost dead" to a large medical center in Sacramento. That center called me from the Intensive Care Unit. I went there right away and spent the week there with him.

I am struggling every day with the pain and anger of this inhumane separation of two committed people who have enjoyed each others peaceful company for 38 years. They say it is due to a proposed unknowable California APS report.

APS is only about some kind of abuse issue. They do nothing for hoarders, for example, since it is their choice to live that way. They do nothing for a person too old to take sufficient care of themselves. Again, because it's their choice to live that way. They really don't get involved except in abuse cases. This is what they told me.

My experience with APS in Arizona was useless. My mother with dementia lives alone (at her insistence). One four separate occasions (her physician called once, I called three times) after hysterical meltdowns, suicide threats, etc., they sent someone over. Mom showtimed them, they found “no evidence of self neglect” and closed it. They’re basically only really active if there’s verifiable abuse by another person or a public health hazard. I’m not likely to be calling them again.

I live in Niagara County, NY. They told me that they “didn’t have anything like that.” And offered me a 4 hour a week adult day care on Saturdays only that my mother had to “qualify” for. No services offered, nothing. A social worker closed her case without us even knowing.

From my experience in dealing with them for my mother… she’d been long estranged from me by mutual choice. When she arrived back in my life with a hoarded house, years of self neglect and over medication, no money, no utilities, and still experiencing a little hospital delerium from a recent stay.,,, her neighbors and pcp office had already called APS. She’d been evading them. If the person won’t allow them in or participate then they can’t and won’t do anything.

I saw the letter from them when I tried to help and convinced her they weren’t going to just put her in a home. This was accurate. They came, asked if there was food in the house, offered some ways to apply for financial help, and a couple of months later sent a team to do a big clean out on the house. (Which she’d destroyed again in a few months time). APS told me if. the person had mental capacity, they can’t just take over or put them in a facility.

I delayed and delayed calling in illinois. Should have called ASAP because they didnt do anything. They visited but my parents lied so oh well...the visit scared my mom into action. For a second

Oh, yes. Here in California, though some decades ago before retirement, I as an RN saw APS intervene often, and when needed, and for the good. Often Social Workers called them in for assessment help and welfare of elders.

My most recent experience was in Southern California some 5 years ago when intervention by APS was required by my brother for his partner, when they were separated and there were alcoholism out of control with meddling by abusive neighbors taking advantage. APS was all KINDS of help and assistance.

We often here on the forum about APS intervening, and I must say it is mostly missives written by people who are attempting to care for their elders and someone ELSE reported them. More of a "What should I do/say; how scared do I need to be". And etc. There are also cases here where someone in family is POA and caregiver and another sibling is wanting to check in/check up for wellness checks.

What the outcomes are we are most often not here filled in.
I will say this to you--if you are worried, what other option is there????? Really this is the ONLY option for the safety and welfare of the elder. So it is worth a try. And if you do it and write here about it, that's all the MORE information. As someone already posted today, "we learn from one another" here on AC.

I am in western NY. On very few occasions have I found APS to intervene and remove an adult from their residence. Those cases are very extreme with severely ill patients.

However, they do follow-up visits if warranted and provide assistance or help them find assistance for a majority of vunerable adults.

A report to APS needs to be documented and investigated but regulations to force an adult to change their living situation is very difficult due to personal rights in NY.

i live in the bay and we called aps on the in laws. Yes they’ll go out, no that they can do much.

The problem with your question is that “were they really helpful” depends on whether the person who contacts APS is realistic about what help to expect - or whether it’s a case of ‘solve all my problems, please, and dry my weeping eyes as well’. If the staff are overstretched, the chances are that they will respond to the worst problems, rather than ‘helping’ everyone.

Please understand that staffing, actions and speed will all vary widely by state and county.