I was preparing a home for a friend/client to receive some equipment and material to repair her home when adult protective service (APS) came to the door and asked to see my friend. I said I will check with her, that she was under heavy meds and was asleep. I went to get her. I got her up and took her into the living room and the worker had walked in and was searching the home. I did not even have time to get my friend dressed. Can APS just walk in without being invited?
I would call them and make sure it was actually APS. Did they show any sort of ID?
If it wasn't, file a report with your local police department right away.
A part of what this country is founded on. Freedom.
We should continue to exercise that right well into our elder years.
The authority can make an appointment, come back later, or call for back-up in most cases. Has anyone ever experienced a swat team entering one's home just because a prankster called swat?
Authorities attempting to gain access should be stopped at the door until an elder has a witness present, identity is confirmed, and the elder says yes or no. One can always pick up the phone and call 911 themselves.
APS, CPS have been over-stepping their authority for too long. imo.
APS probably do, depending on circumstances, have the legal right to insist on entry into a person's home. But the way you describe this situation, this is about codes of conduct rather than the law as such.
At the very top of the form we fill in at Every Single Visit, it reads, on the checklist:
"Consent gained for support (consider the client's mental capacity to consent): Y/N.
Details if consent could not be gained............................................................................"
Similarly, that worker from APS ought to have waited for your friend's explicit consent to enter the home, let alone to begin searching it.
Assist your friend to make a formal complaint. You can find out from APS themselves what the correct procedure is; and then the aim is for workers on that team to be reminded that there are protocols and they do need to be followed.
Consent needs to be given for:
entry into the home
any actions taken while in the home
recording of information
forwarding of information
When APS is investigating a concern, they do of course have various legal tools at their disposal simply because some of the people most at risk won't be able to give their consent whether through incapacity, coercion, illness, whatever. But in this case it seems there was nothing to stop the worker waiting a reasonable time for you to bring your friend in, and then asking your friend's permission to begin the visit. Plain disrespectful, I call it. I hope you get a satisfactory response and an apology on your friend's behalf.
Did this woman offer any ID? Was she carrying notebooks or anything in which she could take notes? And, although I hate to ask it, has anything been missing?
IF permission is refused, by the person whose house it is (even if that person is the subject of concern), then the worker may have to insist on the right of entry, with the backing of law enforcement if necessary. But only if!
We have a similar issue with reporting. There are certain safeguarding and welfare issues which, if they come to light, we must report; and we must report them with or without the person's agreement. But we'd much rather gain the agreement, and there is usually a way to achieve it - it only wants a little tact and consideration.
Barb raises an essential point about checking identity before granting access - a timely reminder, it's the sort of thing we all know we ought to do but...
Llike the police, APS do wellness checks. As such, they can come in without a warrant or police. If I were in the situation, I'd videotape it on my phone.
See All Answers