Adult Protective Services

Adult Protective Services (APS) provides safety and protection for adults who are experiencing or are at risk of:

• Physical injury
• Sexual abuse
• Poor nutrition
• Dehydration
• Untreated medical conditions
• Misuse of medicines
• Abandonment or general neglect

Yet sometimes signs of abuse and neglect can be difficult to recognize and can continue unseen for years. It could also be a sudden attack from a trusted friend, family member or caregiver. Or sometimes an adult needs help because of self-neglect due to a decline in cognitive capacity.

If you witness or suspect abuse, please report online at ReporttoAPS.org or call the 24-hour hotline at 805-654-3200. Emotional and financial abuse may offer fewer visual clues, so these forms of abuse often are more difficult to identify. Emotional abuse may be carried out through threats that cause fear, anxiety or depression; isolation may take the form of denying phone calls, visitors, or mail. Financial abuse often involves misused funds, unauthorized account charges and real estate transactions or missing possessions.

What To Do About Suspected Abuse

Anyone who suspects another is being abused should report it. Additionally, anyone who has full or part-time custody or care of an elder or dependent adult is by law a mandated reporter and must immediately report suspected abuse or neglect. Other professionals required to report abuse include social workers, members of the clergy, health care practitioners, advocacy groups, fire department personnel, and staff at financial institutions.

Mandated Reporters

• Mandated Reporters and all other reporters, please report online at: ReporttoAPS.org
• Financial Institutions can report online at ReporttoAPS.org or use this form: SOC Form 342
• If online reporting cannot be done, reports may be emailed to HSA-APS-Referrals@ventura.org or faxed to 805-650-1521.

More details about Adult Protective Services and tools for risk assessment are available here.