Join Other Organizations and Support Passage of Adult Protective Services (SB 699) Legislation
Join Other Organizations and Support Passage of Adult Protective Services (SB 699) Legislation
Greetings -
I write to you to ask your organization to join the 88, and growing, organizations that support the passage of Adult Protective Services (APS) legislation. The groups support SB 699, a bill before the PA General Assembly which would protect currently at-risk adults with disabilities from abuse and neglect. Currently, individuals under the age of 18 are protected from neglect and abuse by the Child Protective Services Act and those 60 or older are protected by the Older Adult Protective Services statutes. At-risk individuals ages 18 to 59 do not currently have protection from abuse or neglect in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is one of only five (5) states to not have such a law. In 2003, the PA Legislative Budget and Finance Committee issued a report recommending the passage of this type of law. We ask your organization to sign on in support of this important initiative to assure all Pennsylvanians are protected from abuse and neglect.
If you are willing to join in support of SB 699, please forward the name of your organization as it should be listed and also a name and contact information (e-mail/phone) for the contact person. Send the information to [email protected] or [email protected].
The Adult Protective Services Act (SB 699), which recently passed the State Senate and is currently in the State House, would enact many important changes to the protective service system in PA. These include -
- Allowing protective service employees to work in coalition with local law enforcement to gain access to the non-regulated residences where at-risk individuals are being neglected or abused. In the current system, service providers are not able to legally enter the home without permission to investigate the alleged abuse or neglect of someone in the critical age range. The legislation proposed would put an end to this.
- Require protective services to report to local law enforcement when they have probable cause to believe that a person in the critical age range is the victim of sexual abuse, serious physical injury, or serious bodily injury or when there is a suspicious death.
- Allow protective services to investigate abuse and neglect reports involving both paid and unpaid caregivers before it reaches the point of serious bodily injury or results in death.
- Allow professionals familiar with the individual's needs to develop care plans that prevent neglect from occurring. These individualized plans would allow people to receive appropriate care tailored to their needs.
- Ensure that provider incident reports are investigated to make sure that any abuse or neglect which is occurring is addressed as soon as possible so the person does not suffer any additional harm.
Your organization can help make sure that future incidents of abuse do not occur by signing on as a supporting organization to Adult Protective Services/SB 699. Again, please forward the name of your organization as it should be listed and also a name and contact information (e-mail/phone) for the contact person. Send the information to [email protected] or [email protected]. If you know of any other organizations that may also be interested in supporting the legislation, please feel free to forward them my contact information.
Thank you very much and I hope to hear from you soon so that together, we may help end the abuse and neglect of all Pennsylvanians.
Sincerely,
Ilene Shane