Abuse / Adult Protective Services

DEFINITIONS RELATED TO ADULT SERVICES/ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES

ABUSE is defined as the willful infliction of physical pain, injury, or mental anguish or unreasonable confinement.

ADULT is any person 60 years or older, and any person 18 years and older who has an incapacity.

ADULT AT RISK is an adult who is in an endangering situation that may result in imminent injury, death, and/or loss without the provision of protective services.

ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES means services provided or arranged by the local department of public welfare or social services which are necessary to prevent abuse, neglect, or exploitation of an adult. These services consist of the identification, receipt, and investigation of complaints and reports of adult abuse, neglect, and exploitation for incapacitated persons eighteen years of age and over and persons sixty years of age and over. These services also consist of the identification, receipt, and investigation of complaints and reports that incapacitated persons eighteen years of age and over and persons sixty years of age and over are at risk of abuse, neglect, or exploitation.

ADULT SERVICES are provided to impaired persons eighteen years of age and over, persons sixty years of age and over, and to their families, where appropriate. Services are intended to maximize self-sufficiency; to prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation; and/or to assist, when necessary, with appropriate placement. If appropriate and available, adult services may include provision of or arranging for case management and group work, home-based care, transportation, sheltered employment, adult foster/family care, adult day care, meal service, legal proceedings, placement, and other activities to aid the adult.

AGGRAVATED SEXUAL BATTERY means sexual abuse in which the act is accomplished against the will of the complaining witness by force, threat, or intimidation, or through the use of the complaining witness's mental incapacity or physical helplessness, and a) the complaining witness is at least thirteen but less than fifteen years of age; b) the accused causes serious bodily or mental injury to the complaining witness; or c) the accused uses or threatens to use a dangerous weapon. Under this definition, only the situation described under b) and c) would constitute a valid APS complaint and only then if the person is either 60 years old or older or is 18 through 59 and is alleged to be incapacitated.

ASSESSMENT is an official review to determine the needs of an adult and is crucial to service planning in adult programs. Areas to be assessed are: physical environment, psychosocial status, functional status, familial and community support, and physical health. 

CASE MANAGEMENT (or CARE COORDINATION) is a systematic approach essential to effective service delivery that actively involves the service worker and the customer/family in developing, achieving, and maintaining meaningful goals. The purpose of case management is to structure the service worker's focus and activities to assist the customer in reaching his or her goals and to assure that the customer receives appropriate services in a timely manner. Assessment is at the core of the process and occurs at each step.

CLOSURE occurs when the agency no longer works with a customer (or his or her family) because of death, services are no longer needed, services refused, etc. 

COMPLAINING WITNESS is the person alleged to have been subjected to rape, forcible sodomy, inanimate object sexual penetration, marital sexual assault, aggravated sexual battery, or sexual battery.

CONSERVATOR means a person appointed by the court who is responsible for managing the estate and financial affairs of an incapacitated person, and where the context plainly indicates, includes a “limited conservator” or a “temporary conservator”.

CUSTOMER means any adult or child who needs supervision and/or service and is provided assistance in meeting those needs from the local social services/welfare agency.

DIRECT SERVICE means services provided to customers directly by local social services staff.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE means a pattern of abusive behaviors used by one individual to control or exert power over another individual in the context of an intimate relationship. It includes a wide variety of abusive behaviors that often increase in frequency and intensity over time. Domestic violence includes, but is not limited to, verbal assaults and threats, emotional abuse including intimidation and isolation, physical and sexual assaults, the use of weapons, the destruction of property, and violence toward others significant to the victim. 

EMERGENCY means that an adult is living in conditions, which present a clear and substantial risk of death or immediate and serious physical harm to himself or herself or others.

EVALUATION is a review of the most recent assessment and service plan. 

EXPLOITATION means the illegal use of an incapacitated adult or his or her resources for another's profit or advantage. This includes acquiring a person's resources through the use of that person's mental or physical incapacity, the disposition of the incapacitated person's property by a second party to the advantage of the second party and to the detriment of the incapacitated person, misuse of funds, acquiring an advantage through threats to withhold needed support/care unless certain conditions are met, persuading an incapacitated adult to perform services including sexual acts to which the adult lacks the capacity to consent.

FAMILY means any individual adult or adults and/or children related by blood, marriage, adoption, or an expression of kinship who function as a family unit.

FAMILY-BASED means an approach to social services delivery where the focus is on the family unit, rather than an individual member viewed in isolation.

GUARDIAN means a person who has been legally invested with the authority and charged with the duty of taking care of the person and protecting the rights of the person who has been declared by the circuit court to be incapacitated and incapable of administering his or her own affairs. The powers and duties of the guardian are defined by the court and should be limited to matters within the areas where the person in need of a guardian has been determined to be incapacitated.

GUARDIAN AD LITEM means an attorney appointed by the court to represent the interests of the person for whom a guardian or conservator is requested. On the hearing of the petition for appointment of a guardian or conservator, the guardian ad litem advocates for the best interest of the person who is the subject of the hearing, and his or her duties are usually concluded when the case is decided.

IMPAIRED means a person whose physical or mental capacity is diminished to the extent that he or she needs counseling or supervisory assistance, and/or assistance with activities of daily living such as feeding, bathing, and walking, or instrumental activities of daily living such as shopping and money management.

INCAPACITATED PERSON means any adult who is impaired by reason of mental illness, mental retardation, physical illness or disability, advanced age or other causes to the extent that the adult lacks sufficient understanding or capacity to make, communicate, or carry out responsible decisions concerning his or her well-being.

INTAKE in adult programs, in general, occurs because of a need for information, services, or an APS complaint. Contact is from the customer or a third party. 

INTIMATE PARTS means the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, or buttocks of any person.

LACKS CAPACITY TO CONSENT means a preliminary judgment of the local department of social services' social worker that an adult is unable to consent to receive needed services for reasons that relate to emotional or psychiatric problems, mental retardation, developmental delay, or other reasons which impair the adult's ability to recognize a substantial risk of death or immediate and serious harm to self. The lack of capacity to consent may be either permanent or temporary. The worker must make a preliminary judgment that the adult lacks the capacity to consent before petitioning the court for authorization to provide protective services on an emergency basis.

LEGALLY INCAPACITATED means that the person has been adjudicated incapacitated by a circuit court because of a mental or physical condition which renders him or her, either wholly or partially, incapable of taking care of himself or herself or his or her estate.

LOCAL AGENCY means any department of social services/welfare in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

MARITAL SEXUAL ASSAULT means a person engages in sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anilingus, or anal intercourse with his or her spouse, or penetrates the labia majora or anus of his or her spouse with any object other than for a bona fide medical purpose, or causes such spouse to so penetrate his or her own body with an object, and such act is accomplished against the spouse's will by force or a present threat of force against the spouse or another person (Code of Virginia, 18.2-67.1:1). This becomes the basis for an APS investigation only if the alleged victim meets other criteria (age or incapacity). The definition as stated does not require that all reports of spouse abuse be investigated by APS workers.

MENTAL ANGUISH means a state of emotional pain or distress resulting from activity (verbal or behavioral) of a perpetrator. The intent of the activity is to threaten or intimidate, to cause sorrow or fear, to humiliate or ridicule. There must be evidence that it is the perpetrator's activity that has caused the adult's feelings of pain and/or distress.

MENTAL DYSFUNCTIONING means impaired or deficient functioning which renders the adult unable to recognize the consequences of his or her behavior, unable to identify his or her needs and take the steps necessary to see that those needs are met, or unable to perceive relevant facts and reach a decision based on those facts. This category may include mentally ill, mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, developmentally delayed, or persons who are suffering from dementia. A person may be considered incapacitated in one phase of his or her life while able to function adequately in other areas.

NEGLECT means that an adult is living under such circumstances that he or she is not able to provide for himself or herself or is not being provided such services as are necessary to maintain his or her physical and mental health and that the failure to receive such necessary services threatens his or her well-being. Neglect includes the failure of a caregiver, or some other responsible person, to provide for basic needs to maintain the adult's physical and mental health and well being. It also includes the adult's neglect of self (i.e., lack of clothing, food, inadequate supervision, and medical neglect).

PURCHASED SERVICE means services provided by a resource other than local social services staff and paid for by the local agency.

REPORT means an allegation by any person to a local department of social services that an adult may be in need of protective services. The term “report” shall be used to refer to both reports and complaints of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of adults.

SERVICE DELIVERY is the “taking action” step. Service delivery will vary based on the assessments made and goals and objectives set in service planning. Service delivery can involve the service worker, family, community, informal supports, and other agencies.

SERVICE PLANNING involves mutual goal-setting and decision making with the customer and others as appropriate to the situation.

SERVICE PROGRAMS means social services which provide assessment and delivery of broad services which include intake services, adult services, prevention and support services for families, adult protective services, child protective services, and foster care and adoption services to meet family needs.

SERVICE WORKER means the social worker responsible for case management or care coordination.

SEXUAL ABUSE means an act committed with the intent to sexually molest, arouse, or gratify any person where a) the accused intentionally touches the complaining witness's intimate parts or clothing covering such intimate parts; or b) the accused forces the complaining witness to touch the accused's, the witness's own, or other persons intimate parts or clothing covering such intimate parts; or c) the accused forces another person to touch the complaining witness's intimate parts or clothing covering such intimate parts (Code of Virginia, §18.2-67.1).

SEXUAL BATTERY means sexual activity against the will of the adult by force, threat, or intimidation, or through the use of the adult’s mental incapacity or physical helplessness. 

SSI (Supplemental Security Income) means a federal cash transfer program to help assure individuals a more adequate income. Begun in 1974, SSI replaced the federal-state assistance program for the low-income aged, blind, and disabled that was originally established under the Social Security Act of 1935. 

UNIFORM ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT (UAI) means the standardized multi-dimensional assessment, which determines a customer's social, physical health, mental health, and functional abilities. The UAI is used to gather information for the determination of a customer's care needs and service eligibility, and for planning and monitoring a customer's care across various agencies for long-term care services.

UNIVERSAL ACCESS means the provision of services without regard to income.

UNREASONABLE CONFINEMENT means the use of restraints (physical or chemical), isolation, or any other means of confinement without medical orders, when there is no emergency and for reasons other than the adult's safety or well being, or the safety of others.

This information has been provided by Terry Smith, Manager, Adult Services Program, Virginia Department of Social Services.

Back to Abuse / Adult Protective Services