Monday, January 27, 2014

Adult abuse registry would protect elderly and disabled, advocates say


At age 18, Crystal Johnston’s autistic son, Daniel often struggled to communicate with her. But after noticing he wasn’t eating or sleeping well, she eventually learned that a staffer at a camp for the disabled had been accused of striking and threatening Daniel.

Adult protective services substantiated the abuse, she said. And though no criminal charges were filed, Johnston presumed that the abuser would at least be prevented from working again with other vulnerable adults.

“I was like, ‘Great, at least he’ll be on a list. People will be found out this guy is trouble.’” she said, recalling the incident from five years ago. “Then I found out there is no list. There’s just a paper that goes in a file that nobody has access to.”

Full Article & Source:
Adult abuse registry would protect elderly and disabled, advocates say

4 comments:

StandUp said...

I agree. This is very important!

Anonymous said...

The reason that this will never happen is because so much adult abuse and neglect occurs in nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and other professional caretaker situations. These people block any efforts at accountability.

Thelma said...

The people taking these reports, such as APS, are as much of the problem as the bad guys.

Anonymous said...

Exactly, Thelma. APS continues to expand responsibility for mandatory reporting, as it should. But what happens to those reports. In many cases, nothing is done to investigate.

And that does not begin to scratch the surface of the cases where APS itself dumped these poor elderly victims in facilities such as those run by the notorious Scott Schuett. Google Scott Schuett for more information on this publicly funded, publicly sponsored abuse and neglect of incapacitated adults.