Institute on Aging
National Center on Elder Abuse
2000

Reviewed by Loree Cook-Daniels

“Helping Hands: The Role of Adult Protective Services (APS) in Preventing Elder Abuse and Neglect” is “intended to clarify the mission, approaches, resources, and challenges of APS. It provides a general introduction for APS workers who are new to the field or those who would like to learn more, and for professionals from other disciplines and agencies who are likely to work with vulnerable individuals.”

Part 1 includes the history of APS, common features of elder abuse laws, the scope of APS authority, the process and tools which are used in working APS cases, and how APS assesses, investigates, and provides services to alleged victims.

Part 2, Critical Issues in APS, looks at: distinguishing APS from child protective services; the relationship between the fields of APS and elder abuse; lack of federal leadership; increased emphasis on perpetrators; substantiating abuse; standards of proof; due process protections; decision-making capacity and consent; and confidentiality.

The final section includes the bibliography and exemplary APS training and evaluation programs.

The manual is not available online. Hard copies are available for $15 each (plus 8.5% tax for California residents) from:
Institute on Aging’s San Francisco Consortium for Elder Abuse Prevention
3330 Geary Boulevard
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 447-1989, ext. 513 (voice)
(415) 447-1250 (fax)
mtwomey@ioaging.org (e-mail)