What can be done if I feel the person is in dire need of help but refuses mine now due to mental health?

Call APS. This is the appropriate option because your cousin is at risk of harm through self-neglect and refusal of support. Don't look on it as "reporting her to the authorities"; instead, see it as referring her to the right place for the kind of help she needs, just as you'd call an ambulance if she'd broken her leg.


You can easily look the number up online, just Google "APS for [name of your cousin's area]."

'dire need of help' can you explain a bit more about that?

While standards of hygiene & living preferences certainly differ widely, I'm wondering about the safety level first. If this is a crises right now, or brewing on the horizon?

Questions Social Services may need to know may include;

Confused? Delusional? Wandering? Risk of self-harm or harm to others?

Is the person eating? Buy food, cook/reheat/make a sandwich?

Can the person handle money? Daily shopping, bills?

Manage meds? Leave home without help? Use a phone in an emergency?

Yes, you going to need to sit and wait till something happens, like a hospital visit. You then request an evaluation for Dementia and
state that there is no one to care for her. So sending her home is not an option. The State can take over her care. Things will go quicker if they do.

If you are not her PoA and she doesn't have a diagnosis of dementia or cognitive impairment/memory loss you won't be legally able to force any help upon her. Calling APS is your only recourse, unless she has a medical emergency and requires a trip to the ER. In this case you would contact the hospital discharge person to make sure they know there's no one to care for her and she's an "unsafe discharge". Do not go to retrieve her, even if the hospital applies a lot of pressure on you to do so. Your cousin may even name you as the person who will care for her once out -- you must make sure the hospital knows this isn't true. Other of her family, friends & neighbors need to know they should NOT go get her to bring her home. She can then be transitioned directly into a facility where she will receive care and protection and social exposure. Going to the ER would be an opportunity to shorten the process for her to receive help.

Call your local Adult Protective Services agency and report your concerns.