Below is a press release from the Mississippi Department of Human Services:
During the holidays, older adults can be especially vulnerable to exploitation or abuse due to isolation. The holiday season is a good time to connect with family and discuss the financial, emotional, and physical well-being of older family members.
The Mississippi Department of Human Services encourages family members to look for possible signs of abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation of their loved ones. According to a National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System report, over 1 million complaints nationally of alleged maltreatment were received by Adult Protective Services (APS) programs annually. In Mississippi, there were 3,910 reports investigated by Adult Protective Services in 2021.
The Mississippi Department of Human Services Adult Protective Services (APS) works to protect our aging population from abuse and neglect. Adult Protective Services (APS) investigates allegations of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of vulnerable persons residing in private home settings, as well as any follow-up services provided by Division of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS) to those vulnerable persons because of the investigations.
Families should also be aware of the types of elder abuse. Including:
Examples of elder abuse include:
- Financial abuse or exploitation: Elder financial abuse or exploitation is when someone takes money or property from an older person without their knowledge, understanding, or consent. Indicators include forging a signature on an older person's check or using their ATM card to access bank accounts. Other forms of financial abuse include getting the deed to a property, identity theft, accessing and spending down an inheritance, or gaining control of assets. Coercing an older person to change a will or enter into a complex financial transaction they do not understand to get their money.
- Physical Abuse: Beating, slapping, kicking, rough handling, or other abuse causing welts, cuts, burns, abrasions, sprains, bruises, dislocations, fractures, or broken bones.
- Neglect by Caregiver/Others: Lack of supervision, failure to give medicine, food, or personal care, not attending to bed sores.
- Self-Neglect: Indicators include the inability to provide self-care (i.e. cook, eat, bathe), over-medication/under-medication, untreated medical or mental conditions, aimless wandering, and causing fires.
- Psychological/Emotional Abuse: Indicators include verbal threats or insults, cursing, belittling, isolation, or withholding companionship.
- Sexual Abuse: Indicators include Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), pregnancy, bruises, bleeding, pain or itching in genital or anal areas, and difficulty in walking or sitting.
"The MDHS Division of Aging and Adult Services is committed to advocating for the rights of aging and vulnerable Mississippians. We also believe empowering older adults and their caregivers to make informed decisions is important," said Kenyatta Blake, MDHS Division of Aging and Adult Services Director.
APS programs promote the safety, independence, and quality of life for vulnerable adults who are or are in danger of, being abused, neglected by self or others, or financially exploited, and who are unable to protect themselves. APS is a social service program authorized by law in every state to receive and investigate reports of elder or vulnerable adult maltreatment and to intervene to protect the victims to the extent possible.
Anyone with knowledge of abuse or neglect of an aging or vulnerable person is encouraged to contact APS by phone at the Vulnerable Person Abuse Hotline at 844-437-6282 or online at https://fw2.harmonyis.net/MSLiveIntake/. Individuals should always call the nearest law enforcement agency or 911 if the situation is a life-threatening emergency.
In most cases, reports can be made anonymously and in all cases, the reporter’s name is kept confidential.
For more information on the Division of Aging and Adult Services and the Adult Protective Service, visit https://www.mdhs.ms.gov/adults-seniors/
