Organizational Context of Adult Protective Services: Findings from Interviews about Agency Structure and Data Collection

• In Event: Legal Processing of Intimate Partner Violence Cases

Abstract

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) funded Assessment of State Administrative Data on Elder Abuse, Mistreatment, and Neglect is investigating the feasibility of a nationwide elder and vulnerable adult abuse reporting system. In December 2013 and January 2014, the research team conducted semi-structured interviews with Adult Protective Services (APS) representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia in order to learn more about the organizational structure of each state’s APS and obtain broad outlines of APS data availability from state vs. local agencies. These interviews served to inform the proper level of data collection for obtaining estimates of the prevalence of reported abuse. Findings indicate that data are largely centralized at the state level, even in states where adult protective services are administered at the county or regional level. Local level data collection is need in only five states, although nine states’ APS programs are administered at the county or regional level. Authors present these organizational findings, as well as a picture of how elder abuse definitions and reporting mechanisms differ from state to state, how data move through the organizational structure of APS, and how vulnerable adult protection intersects with the criminal justice system.

Authors

• Miriam Becker-Cohen, Urban Institute

• Kamala Mallik-Kane, Urban Institute

• Darakshan Raja, Urban Institute

• Janine Zweig, Urban Institute