	Adult Protective Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

APS 10: Personnel

Direct service personnel are qualified by training and experience to deliver adult protective services.

APS 10.01

Supervisors have an advanced degree in social work or another human service field or are registered nurses.

Interpretation: If program staff do not include an individual with an advanced degree in social work, a person with an advanced degree is available, as necessary, to provide consultation on complicated cases.

APS 10.02

Personnel that provide adult protective services are qualified in accordance with state requirements.

APS 10.03

Personnel who conduct assessments are qualified by training, skill, and experience and are able to recognize individuals and families with special needs.

APS 10.04

Personnel receive training on, or demonstrate competence in:

respect for cultural, ethnic, religious, and lifestyle choices and characteristics;
collaborating with community service providers;
providing preventive and supportive services to ensure maximum participation and self-determination; and
communicating and working with vulnerable adults, including adults with disabilities.

APS 10.05

Personnel receive training on:

recognizing mental, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, neglect and self-neglect, financial exploitation, and abandonment;
investigative techniques, including evaluating risk;
the rights of vulnerable adults;
working with individuals and families who may resist social, medical and legal services;
maintaining professional boundaries;
using the organization’s authority to intervene on behalf of vulnerable adults who are abused, exploited, or neglected; and
working with law enforcement.

APS 10.06

Supervisory personnel are available by telephone 24 hours a day.

APS 10.07

Supervisors or experienced workers provide additional support when personnel are new or are still developing competencies.

APS 10.08

The program director or designee ensures:

work schedules are flexible;
staff coverage is sufficient at all times; and
supports are in place to prevent burnout.

APS 10.09

Caseload size and case assignments are sufficiently small to permit direct service personnel to respond flexibly to differing service needs, including frequency of contact, of individuals and families.

Research Note: The National Association of Adult Protective Service Administrators recommends that adult protective service workloads be limited to 25 clients.

APS 10.10

Employee workloads support the achievement of client outcomes, are regularly reviewed, and are based on an assessment of the following:

the qualifications, competencies, and experience of the worker, including the level of supervision needed;
the work and time required to accomplish assigned tasks and job responsibilities; and
service volume, accounting for assessed level of needs of new and current clients and referrals.

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	PURPOSE: Adult Protective Services protect vulnerable adults from exploitation, neglect, and abuse.

RELATED FILES


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	PERSONNEL The body of employees and/or volunteers that carries out the organization's tasks under the organization's administration and/or supervision. This definition does not include foster parents who are specifically referenced in relevant standards


	TRAINING Instruction so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient in a skill or body of knowledge.


	ADVANCED DEGREE A degree at the Master's level or beyond from an institution of higher education. An advanced degree does not include a Bachelor's degree, an associate's degree, or an educational certificate.


	SOCIAL WORK Professionally responsible interventions carried out by persons with formal, professional education at the BSW or MSW level from an accredited school of social work and appropriate licensing, certification, and registration credentials. Interventions are directed toward improving the transactions between people and environments to enhance the adaptive capacities of the participants and improve environments for all that function within them. Social work is a professional practice with a consumer group consisting of individuals, families, small groups, organizations, neighborhoods, and communities and involving the disciplined application of knowledge and skill.


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	CASE A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.


	ASSESSMENT An evaluation, which utilizes professional expertise and skills in the collection and analysis of data to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group. Assessment, as in needs assessment, is also used to determine priorities of program planning and service development for the organization as a whole. See also DIAGNOSIS.


	SPECIAL NEEDS A designation used in reference to conditions or characteristics of a person that reflect a need for special care, services, or treatment. When the term is used in the context of adoption services, special needs refers to conditions that make a child harder to place for adoption. This includes children who are members of sibling groups, older children, children with disabilities, children of certain racial /ethnic backgrounds, etc. When the term is used in the context of foster care it refers to the need for a higher degree of specialized case services and attention due to mental and physical disabilities. When the term is used in the context of out-of-school time services, a child or youth may have special physical, behavioral, medical, emotional, or cognitive needs that should be addressed or accommodated. The term is also used in other contexts. See also DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	WORKLOAD The amount of work assigned to or expected from a person within a specified period of time. See also CASELOAD.


	CLIENT See service recipient.


	SUPERVISION Assumption of responsibility for directly overseeing and evaluating the work or work products of personnel within an organization. Also includes inspecting the act or process of accomplishing a function or activity.


	REFERRALS Resource suggestions provided to consumers to address problems or needs that are beyond the scope of the organization's mission.


	CASELOAD The aggregate number of clients and/or consumers of service (including individuals, families, and groups) for whom a given employee is responsible. See also WORKLOAD


	EMPLOYEE Paid member of an organization. Foster parents are not considered employees and are specifically referenced in relevant standards.