By Kathleen Quinn, President, NAPSA Board of Directors
April 01, 2019
Over half the states (26) now have abuser registries for perpetrators of elder and vulnerable adult abuse. In 2016, NAPSA’s Regional Representatives Advisory Board created a volunteer ad hoc committee which examined abuser registries in detail and produced the first-ever, comprehensive report on this recent trend. [1]
To be considered, a state registry had to fit the following definition: “a system for maintaining the identity of individuals who are found, only as a result of an APS investigation, to have abused, neglected or exploited seniors or adults (18 and older) with disabilities living in the community or in a facility.”
Registries in 26 states met these criteria; of those, 21 agreed to submit information to the project. Data was collected through surveys and telephone interviews.
Consistent with APS Programs in general, the committee found that APS registries across the country differ in significant ways, including coverage in terms of age, disability, location of the abuse, offender type, the nature of abuse, the levels of funding and staffing, and more. For example, some registries are limited to offenses which take place in state-regulated facilities only.
The Committee found three components common to APS abuse registries:
Challenges were noted:
The Ad Hoc Committee completed their report with the following recommendations and suggestions for research:
Areas Requiring Further Research:
To read the entire report, see NAPSA ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES ABUSE REGISTRY NATIONAL REPORT (MARCH 2018)
[1] The NAPSA AD HOC COMMITTEE ON Adult Protective Services Abuse Registries: Catherine Bingle (Texas), Andrew Capehart (NAPSA), Linda Chun (Hawaii), Lori Delagrammatikas (California), Steve Fisher (Kentucky), Marta Fontaine (Missouri), Mariah Freark (Massachusetts), Lynn Koontz (New Hampshire), Paige McCleary (Virginia), Catherine Stack (Iowa), Mandy Weirich (West Virginia) and Sharon Zanti (Colorado). Mariah Freark was the principal author of the final report.
We are sincerely appreciative to Judith D. Tamkin for her gift to help establish the USC Center on Elder Mistreatment’s website. Her deep and personal commitment to eradicating elder abuse is helping to reshape our understanding of elder abuse and ultimately save innumerable older adults from abuse and neglect.