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BigDon69 Asked May 2019

Mom got a pamphlet about APS. Did someone accuse me?

JoAnn29 May 2019
Maybe the Caregiver made a report. Do you see Mom at different times of the day? She may sundown which you don't see. Maybe the caregiver sees things you don't and knows someone needs to be there daily. Things can change overnight.

At a point, a Dementia/ALZ person should not be alone. With my Mom one of the first things she lost was her reasoning. She lost the ability to know when to take her pills. Then she left a pan on the stove. TG my nephew came home. The pan got burnt but didn't catch fire. It becomes not what they want but what they need.

BigDon69 May 2019
I don't really have much more than the pamphlet. Yes mom has Alzheimers and we have a care giver for her part time. Mom also is very independent and will not always let the caregiver in. She is still able to maintain a house with help. She had her license taken away by the CA DMV. We sold her vehicle recently. She is deathly afraid of care facilities. We went to several and she says it's not for her. I have reassured her that I was going to try and keep her in her home as long as I can. She does have her bad days she will calls us like 40 times if she has a thing she wants. We check up on her every few days because every day caused her to be agitated. I have done nothing in my opinion to warrant a visit from APS. Was just asking cause I am not sure I should call APS or wait and see what happens.

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Ahmijoy May 2019
This happened with us recently. I went to our local resource officer through our fire department and asked if there was any help out there with house repairs and such. I got a letter from APS about a week later saying they had come to our house (I was at work and my husband is bed bound. ) I was in a state of shock! Based on what I told him, had the fire medic reported us? Turns out APS has a department that determines the need for help. No one reported us. Unfortunately they now apparently need to make a visit to close our”case”. This is extremely inconvenient for us. The caseworker seems pushy to me and is trying to convince me to put my husband in a facility. She even went so far as to mention that bedridden people have a shortened life span because they are bedridden. I think she’s trying to help, but her approach is annoying.

Anyway, your APS Agency probably has the same branch of their services.

JoAnn29 May 2019
I doubt if APS did this. I would think if they called it would be more a note with caseworkers contact info. Does the pamphlet show any such info?
If it does, I would call. Better than sitting around waiting and wondering. It may just be making people aware there is an agency they can go to if the person feels abused or thinks someone else is. I would think APS could handle a landlord abusing an elderly tenant, lets say.

SparkyY May 2019
Mom lives in a senior apartment building and there is a whole wall full of pamphlets covering just about any topic you could think of. Including elder abuse. You would have gotten a visit from APS before you saw a pamphlet. I've had horrible experience with APS. First off I applied to be her paid caregiver but I did a lot of stupid things in my twenties and couldn't pass their background check. Of course they had no problem letting me care for her they just weren't going to pay me for it. So I can't imagine that they were all that converney. My first thought was they turned my background over to APS. I also have several other suspects but quickly learned I was never going to find out who called them. That's they're one rule above all others. They protect the people who have concerns about the safety of your loved ones. This is actually a good idea the more I think about i thought about it. But soon found that (I'm not exaggerating by much) the vast majority of APS social workers seem to have made a decision on your guilt before they contact you. I believe there is even a topic about harassment by APS social workers. The one assigned to me started her conversation when I was at the hospital for the second time that week. Mom was acting exceptionally weird and went to hospital. They told me she had a UTI that was so bad it went septic. Then the next day hospital called to make sure I was going to be home as they were releasing her! I was floored. Two days for a septic UTI infection seemed incredibly wrong. Of course she went back in two days completely unresponsive for 24 hours. I was trying to be an adult but I was so pissed because I was pretty sure had they kept her she wouldn't have gotten as sick. Some lady calls me out of mom's room.with one of those fake careing faces you just want to punch and the first words out of her mouth we're that if I took mom home she would call the police. First off I was pissed they sent her home in the first place. And I wasn't understanding what she was getting at. She just smiled and said as long as we're on the same page. We weren't even in the same book. Turns out she misunderstood a nurse who told her she shouldn't have been released the first time. So she assumed I was trying to take her home that day. I didn't find this out till mom's last care meeting at the temporary physical therapy place I sent her after the hospital to get her strength back. She tried to down play what she said but thankfully the social worker new how dedicated I was to mom and had the transcript that had her concerns documented about her saying I was trying to take mom home probably so I could take advantage of her financially. I had a job I was making $750 a week and I gave it up so I could get part of mom's $930? The new guy is nice but is obsessed with whether or not I take care of mom's finances. You mean the $930 she gets every month? No we hired a cpa to handle that much money. I lost job two years ago and kept thinking mom would get better then I'd get a job. I had no problem after paying mom's bills to use the rest $150 for myself. I get $200 a month in food stamps and it all goes to mom and I. The new APS worker keeps asking for mom's bank accounts not sure how anyone, even if they had bad intentions would bother with that little amount of money. It was actually less. I didn't realize I was supposed to notify SSI if mom was going to be in hospital or Nursing home for more 30 days. I figured it would be in their records when they got billed by nursing home. Mom had to pay back $900 at $90 a month. When the same situation arose I did what I was supposed to. She's been home since April 5 and they still haven't reinstated her SSI. So we've been living off $630 plus my food stamps and I have a feeling they're still going to try and blame me for something. Anyway that felt good to get out of my system. Hope it helps you in the future.

BarbBrooklyn May 2019
Mom has dementia? Does she live alone? Is she left unsupervised?

APS is tasked with protecting vulnerable adults. There job is not to accuse, rather to assure that vulnerable adults are getting what they need.

Is it possible that a friend, neighbor, mail carrier or tradesperson has concerns about the fact that your mom needs more help?
SparkyY May 2019
They're job is supposed to be not to accuse. They seem to take a little too much joy in the accusing part.
BarbBrooklyn May 2019
Need more information to be able to give a helpful answer.

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