From the President

Greetings:

On behalf of the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA), It is my great pleasure to welcome you to our new website.

You may be visiting this website knowing little about NAPSA, Adult Protective Services (APS), or the terrible mistreatment that many vulnerable adults suffer at the hands of others. But you’re here because you have an interest and want to learn more.

You may be visiting because you have friends or family members who you think may be suffering from abuse, neglect or exploitation right now, and you want to know what you can do to help them.

Or perhaps you’re visiting because you’re a professional involved in protecting these adults from mistreatment, and you want to know what’s new in the field and what’s happening on the national front.

Whatever brought you here, you will find a wealth of information; information that will address the questions you have, will provide you with the facts and figures you’re looking for, will direct you to the specific geographic area you want to contact, will inform you about the current state of affairs of Adult Protective Services around the country, and will update you on national legislative and policy activities related to elders and adults with disabilities who are victims of abuse, neglect and exploitation.

As the voice of APS, NAPSA has had a very busy year! A few of the highlights in addition to the new website:

• NAPSA received an Administration on Aging grant to establish the first-ever, much-needed National Adult Protective Services Resource Center.

• In September, NAPSA’s 22^nd national annual conference was held in Buffalo, New York.  Entitled “Stemming the Tide of Adult Abuse: National Perspectives,” the conference was a great success and attracted over 500 attendees.

• NAPSA also held its second National Elder Financial Exploitation Summit to continue the focus on the increasing and alarming problem of financial exploitation.  The Summit drew over a hundred persons, including representatives from financial institutions and state and federal agencies involved in combating financial exploitation; all present were committed to eliminating this despicable crime, which often depletes the income, life-savings and belongings of vulnerable adults, and strips them of their security and choices for the future.

• Also important to note is NAPSA’s ongoing representation of APS in national conferences, meetings, and federal hearings. NAPSA was present and testified in numerous settings, including the important March, 2011 Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing on Ending Elder Abuse, Neglect and Financial Exploitation, in which entertainment icon, Mickey Rooney, gave his poignant account of being emotionally abused, neglected and financially exploited by family members.

The coming year will also be challenging for NAPSA, as the APS Resource Center polls and collects national information on APS programs and workers to create national baseline data so we will know the “State of APS in 2012;” as NAPSA works on a project to manage its growth and increase its organizational capacity in order to carry out its mission more efficiently; as we expand our research and look for new effective ways to work with and on behalf of adult victims in need of protection. And as always, NAPSA will continue to be the “Voice of APS,” informing, educating and bringing to light what is happening to too many of our elderly citizens, what is happening to too many of our adults with disabilities: the neglect they suffer at the hands of others, the pain, both physical and emotional, they feel when they are mistreated by those they love and trust, and the fear they live with about what’s going to happen to them when all that they have has been stolen from them.

I hope you visit our site often, and that if you aren’t already involved with the problem of vulnerable adult mistreatment you will become so.  Look at the web pages and follow up in areas that appeal to you. Take a minute and read some of the stories about the people APS helps. Check out some of the literature on topics that might interest you.  Make a donation to support our work.  Join NAPSA and network with some of the helpful people who work every day to be part of the solution to stop the victimization of our elderly and disabled adult family members and friends. Care.

Thank you for your interest and your support, and if there is any way that NAPSA can help you, please let us know.

B. Lynn Koontz
President, Board of Directors
National Adult Protective Services Association