Can a person call Adult Protective Services anonymously?

Well. She has to take her drivers test next week and maybe she won't pass it. She'll probably just drive without a license then. Sigh.

She drives? Oh my. I think I'd send the DMV a note.

Yes, she has already had many accidents, both in her home, falling, and on the road. Yet, no doctor, social worker or caseworker is able to find her to be incompetent or a danger to herself. Any danger she may be to others is considered "hearsay" as she has never injured anyone else. Therein lies the rub.

This woman sounds like an accident waiting to happen.

Thanks everybody. I spoke with her social worker today and she has had a recent home and mental health evaluation just in August of 2015 and was found to be competent and her home within regulations. She told the case worker she wanted no further assistance and her case is now closed. I was able to pass on this information to the concerned friend who has promised to limit her overprotective behavior and have also arranged for my senior friend to have her "chore worker" take on the role of laundry and linen changes. Hopefully things will go along more smoothly now that this has all come to pass. I can only hope. I really appreciate all your answers because they have given me a lot of peace in the matter.

Good catch vegaslady!

Perhaps you mean feces, not fetus.

Susan 2, Caring about others who do not see the need themselves , can get to be an interesting and sometimes touchy subject. For one thing, the system is over loaded caring for the elderly, especially financially. So to get a lot of action from outside, just because one feels like someone needs help, may come to a point of doing like the old saying saying we have all most likely heard , to be banging up against a wall with no results. I have heard of and seen many people that needed services to care for them, that was not incorporated for their well being as it should have been. Some needing help and wanting it, and others needing help and rejecting it.You will be expected to use all of your funds up first before even getting help,if a person needing help refuses to accept it, or puts on an act. You have your hands full doing anything. Basically people can make choices of their own , be it good, bad, or plain unbalanced mentally, emotionally, or physically. And then it would be, in some cases, hard to prove the fact. Some people choose to do it the way they want, until it is impossible for them to do things anymore for themselves. . A true experience an individual I know of points to choices. He chose to live a single life up into old age. He had a good job throughout his life, saved money, and had lots of money when he passed on. He chose to be generous to some of his relatives, and who knows who else, for he would send them nice amounts of money as gifts throughout his life time. Along toward the end of his life, he lived in a nice neighborhood, and people knew him as a nice person, then one day his brother, who lived far away in another part of the USA, tried to call him and visit, as they were known to do ever so often to chit chat and see how everyone was doing. Well, his brother could not get a hold of him. So he finally, the brother, called the police in that apartment area where his brother lived. They went to investigate, and found him lying in his fetus in a form of comma, the fetus had eaten through into his body leaving a deep sore that never healed. When his brother cleaned up his apartment, he noticed he had been living with basic things, a table and a couple of chairs, bed, TV, Frig, and bare basics. He CHOSE to live that way. After he was found and hospitalized, He lived a few months and was able to know and visit with his brother, before he passed on. Leaving his hard earned money, that was never used in a balanced way, as far as an outsider might think, to his only brother. It was a sad story to hear, but people choose to do what they choose, many times in ways that society in general might never accept. Just ideas and a true story shared. joylee

Thanks for the answer. I hope this person is just making empty threats. Yet , I guess you're right. The worst that can happen is that someone will investigate and we will know for sure if she's in danger. I think she's fine but I'm no expert. She really is refusing to take her meds, drinking and falling, drinking and driving, taking sleeping pills, appearing more and more unkempt. She can't bathe on her own so she just washes up at her sink. But for the most taking she gets around fine and says she's fine. Since she has no family her friends are all worried. I'm the only one who wants to let her do her thing. I also don't want anything bad to happen to her either. She does refuse all medical help as well but to me I think that should be her choice. I'm gonna try to spend more time with her and try again to convince her to at least get some help with laundy and housework. She was just in the hospital for low bloodcount then rehab for 2 weeks and they felt it was safe to release her knowing she was rejecting the home health care they were trying to schedule. I think she's okay!!! So even if they do an investigation they'll probably find her to be well and that will satisfy this other friend.

I would start with a good lawyer.

Since all calls received into APS are confidential, all calls are given the same attention given the information received. Each case is investigated, and either termed "substantiated" or "unsubstantiated" related to the allegations. Anyone is allowed to contact APS, and the persons being investigated will not know who called APS. I have nasty neighbors who just did this to me and the case has been closed based on the investigator's assessment of my husband and me. That said, details you describe about your neighbor do warrant investigating. Having been a Child Protective Services case manager and APS works the about the same, I told our APS case manager details she did not receive in the original report, and she could see almost immediately what was really going on in my neighborhood. APS is not the enemy folks, as CPS is, with the main focus on the person who may or may not need help and making sure those caregivers have all the tools necessary in order to keep that person healthy and safe. Don't kill the messenger! I'm actually glad someone came out, met my husband and he was able to tell her he was "fine" and happy because "my wife takes good care of me". Case closed...

Oh Hell yes someone can and oh Hell yes they will investigate. My sister called APS and lied on me and my mother for an entire year. I take care of my mother who is 86 and suffers from Parkinson's. They came out to the house 12 times in 8 months on top of that the sheriff's office was called 14 times over the same period for their so called welfare checks. Finally, I'm close friends now with the lead investigator and we email each other just to keep in touch because she says my family is crazy. They helped me but encouraging me to get a durable power of attorney. My sister also would get my three aunts to call APS just to look like more people. Luckily, APS saw it and closed the case and sent all of them a letter stating making false reports will result in arrest. So yeah expect Hell.

Be very careful an very certain before using APS as a scare tactic. In my state it is a crime to request an investigation frivilously. In my case the request by sibs to investigate me completely backfired on them. I think they actually hope I was exploiting the folks and would run, then they would get what they wanted, placing mom in a facility. Here we are three years later. Had I run, I would have appeared very guilty. So, sibs had me between a rock and a hard place. Even if I had wanted to leave, I couldn't/shouldn't, talk about appearing guilty or I could have been brought up on charges of abandonment.

We called AFS to report my Dad's wife for abuse. What all the answers say above were also the same for us. Most important outcome: You have on record that authorities were called to report an issue. No, you cannot get a copy but it can be subpoenaed if ever necessary. Plus , it is a good scare tactic.

My husband turned his father in for not allowing his mother the care that my husband thought his mother should receive. He told his father he had turned him in. Father enjoyed the visit. Even though they both had dementia the agency explained that things had to be pretty bad before the agency could do anything about it. In retrospect they were actually doing pretty well considering their age, dementia etc. At the time it was very hard to see them (him) refusing the help their children thought they needed.

They have to go to the home within three days of the call. But, do not expect a report that you can see. The information you will get back will be minimal. My twisted sisters requested I be investigated for financial exploitation. All they received from the investigation is that there was nothing to investigate, no exploitation and I did not have access to Mom's money. Must have frustrated them to no end!

Yes, the reporter can be anonymous, however the person being investigated may guess who called it in.

AFS must investigate all reports by law. The reporter is kept anonymous. Say it's a report on a vulnerable adult with dementia like behavior.

I did this to my own mother years ago because I was so concerned for her mental state and safety. She was so mad somebody was "up in her business" but I said whomever it was must be concerned about you.

Even if they investigate, if they find her in her right mind, she may not be eligible for court-ordered intervention. When my mom was investigated, she could still cover up and "show time" long enough to buffalo the social worker.