SECTIONS 15750-15766 - California Statutes

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE

SECTION 15750-15766

15750. The definitions contained in Chapter 11 (commencing with
Section 15600) shall govern the construction of this chapter.

15751. Each county welfare department shall establish and support a
system of protective services to elderly and dependent adults who
may be subjected to neglect, abuse, or exploitation, or who are
unable to protect their own interest.
This system shall be known as the county adult protective services
system.

15752. Each county shall establish and maintain a specialized
entity within the county welfare department which shall have lead
responsibility for the operation of the adult protective services
program.

15754. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of law governing the
disclosure of information and records, persons who are trained and
qualified to serve on multidisciplinary personnel teams may disclose
to one another information and records which are relevant to the
prevention, identification, or treatment of abuse of elderly or
dependent persons.
(b) Except as provided in subdivision (a), any personnel of the
multidisciplinary team that receives information pursuant to this
chapter, shall be under the same obligations and subject to the same
confidentiality penalties as the person disclosing or providing that
information. The information obtained shall be maintained in a manner
that ensures the maximum protection of privacy and confidentiality
rights.

15755. A law enforcement agency may seek a search warrant from a
magistrate pursuant to the procedures set forth in Chapter 3
(commencing with Section 1523) of Title 12 of Part 2 of the Penal
Code to enable a peace officer to have access to, and to inspect,
premises if a county welfare worker has been denied access to the
premises by the person or persons in possession of the premises and
there is probable cause to believe an elder or dependent adult on
those premises is subject to abuse. While executing the search
warrant the peace officer may allow a county welfare worker, or any
other appropriate person, to accompany him or her.

15760. Adult protective services shall include investigations,
needs assessments, remedial and preventive social work activities;
the necessary tangible resources such as food, transportation,
emergency shelter, and in-home protective care; the use of
multidisciplinary teams; and a system in which reporting of abuse can
occur on a 24-hour basis.

15762. When an allegation of abuse of an elder or dependent adult
is reported to a county designated adult protective service agency
and an agency social worker has reason to believe an elder or
dependent adult has suffered or is at substantial risk of abuse
pursuant to Section 15630, the social worker shall attempt to obtain
consent to enter and meet privately with the elder or dependent adult
about whom the report was made in the residence or dwelling in which
the elder or dependent adult resides without the presence of the
person's caretaker, attendant, or family or household member, unless
the person requests the presence of the attendant, care giver, or
family member, or refuses to meet with the social worker.

15763. (a) Each county shall establish an emergency response adult
protective services program that shall provide in-person response, 24
hours per day, seven days per week, to reports of abuse of an elder
or a dependent adult, for the purpose of providing immediate intake
or intervention, or both, to new reports involving immediate life
threats and to crises in existing cases. The program shall include
policies and procedures to accomplish all of the following:
(1) Provision of case management services that include
investigation of the protection issues, assessment of the person's
concerns, needs, strengths, problems, and limitations, stabilization
and linking with community services, and development of a service
plan to alleviate identified problems utilizing counseling,
monitoring, followup, and reassessment.
(2) Provisions for emergency shelter or in-home protection to
guarantee a safe place for the elder or dependent adult to stay until
the dangers at home can be resolved.
(3) Establishment of multidisciplinary teams to develop
interagency treatment strategies, to ensure maximum coordination with
existing community resources, to ensure maximum access on behalf of
elders and dependent adults, and to avoid duplication of efforts.
(b) (1) A county shall respond immediately to any report of
imminent danger to an elder or dependent adult in other than a
long-term care facility, as defined in Section 9701 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code, or a residential facility, as defined in
Section 1502 of the Health and Safety Code. For reports involving
persons in a long-term care facility or a residential care facility,
the county shall report to the local long-term care ombudsman
program. Adult protective services staff shall consult, coordinate,
and support efforts of the ombudsman program to protect vulnerable
residents. Except as specified in paragraph (2), the county shall
respond to all other reports of danger to an elder or dependent adult
in other than a long-term care facility or residential care facility
within 10 calendar days or as soon as practicably possible.
(2) An immediate or 10-day in-person response is not required when
the county, based upon an evaluation of risk, determines and
documents that the elder or dependent adult is not in imminent danger
and that an immediate or 10-day in-person response is not necessary
to protect the health or safety of the elder or dependent adult.
(3) The State Department of Social Services, in consultation with
the County Welfare Directors Association, shall develop requirements
for implementation of paragraph (2), including, but not limited to,
guidelines for determining appropriate application of this section
and any applicable documentation requirements.
(4) Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of
Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the
department shall implement the requirements developed pursuant to
paragraph (3) by means of all-county letters or similar instructions
prior to adopting regulations for that purpose. Thereafter, the
department shall adopt regulations in accordance with the
requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1
of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(c) A county shall not be required to report or respond to a
report pursuant to subdivision (b) that involves danger to an elder
or dependent adult residing in any facility for the incarceration of
prisoners that is operated by or under contract to the Federal Bureau
of Prisons, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, a
county sheriff's department, a county probation department, a city
police department, or any other law enforcement agency when the abuse
reportedly has occurred in that facility.
(d) A county shall provide case management services to elders and
dependent adults who are determined to be in need of adult protective
services for the purpose of bringing about changes in the lives of
victims and to provide a safety net to enable victims to protect
themselves in the future. Case management services shall include the
following, to the extent services are appropriate for the individual:
(1) Investigation of the protection issues, including, but not
limited to, social, medical, environmental, physical, emotional, and
developmental.
(2) Assessment of the person's concerns and needs on whom the
report has been made and the concerns and needs of other members of
the family and household.
(3) Analysis of problems and strengths.
(4) Establishment of a service plan for each person on whom the
report has been made to alleviate the identified problems.
(5) Client input and acceptance of proposed service plans.
(6) Counseling for clients and significant others to alleviate the
identified problems and to implement the service plan.
(7) Stabilizing and linking with community services.
(8) Monitoring and followup.
(9) Reassessments, as appropriate.
(e) To the extent resources are available, each county shall
provide emergency shelter in the form of a safe haven or in-home
protection for victims. Shelter and care appropriate to the needs of
the victim shall be provided for frail and disabled victims who are
in need of assistance with activities of daily living.
(f) Each county shall designate an adult protective services
agency to establish and maintain multidisciplinary teams including,
but not limited to, adult protective services, law enforcement,
probation departments, home health care agencies, hospitals, adult
protective services staff, the public guardian, private community
service agencies, public health agencies, and mental health agencies
for the purpose of providing interagency treatment strategies.
(g) Each county shall provide tangible support services, to the
extent resources are available, which may include, but not be limited
to, emergency food, clothing, repair or replacement of essential
appliances, plumbing and electrical repair, blankets, linens, and
other household goods, advocacy with utility companies, and emergency
response units.

15764. Notwithstanding Section 10101.1, a county shall have no
share of any nonfederal expenditures above the required expenditures
for this program in the 1996-97 fiscal year, provided that the county
has maintained the level of county matching funds it provided for
this program in the 1996-97 fiscal year.

15765. This chapter shall become operative on May 1, 1999.
Commencing with the 1999-2000 fiscal year, Sections 15760 to 15764,
inclusive, shall be implemented only to the extent funds are provided
in the annual Budget Act.

15766. The investigation of allegations of elder and dependent
adult abuse pursuant to this chapter, and the case management of
elder and dependent adult abuse cases shall be performed by county
merit systems civil service employees. A county adult protective
service agency may utilize a contracted private or nonprofit
telephone answering service after normal working hours and on
weekends and holidays. Such a contracted telephone service shall
immediately forward to a county merit systems civil service employee
any report of abuse or neglect of an elder or dependent adult, unless
the caller is: (a) requesting routine information only; (b)
reporting an incident of abuse which occurred prior to the date of
the call, which does not at the time of the call put the victim at
risk; or (c) requesting information not related to the adult
protective service program, and the person answering the telephone
meets the standards established by the department.