Adult Protective Services
Adult protective services (APS) help vulnerable adults age 60 and older who are in danger of harm or unable to protect themselves, and may have no one to assist them.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) creates programs and policy to help adults in need. Ohio’s county departments of job and family services (CDJFS), or their designated agency, investigate reports of abuse, neglect and exploitation of vulnerable adults and evaluate the need for protective services.
What is considered abuse?
The most common types of elder abuse reported in Ohio are:
- Self-Neglect is the failure of an adult to provide the goods or services necessary for his or her own safety and/or well-being.
- Neglect is the failure of a caretaker to provide the goods or services necessary to avoid physical harm, mental anguish, or mental illness – including abandonment.
- Exploitation is the unlawful or improper act of a person using an adult or an adult’s resources for monetary or personal benefit, profit, or gain.
- Physical abuse is the intentional use of physical force that results in injury, pain, or impairment. It includes pushing, hitting, slapping, pinching, and other ways of physically harming a person. It can also mean placing an individual in incorrect positions, force feeding, restraining, or giving medication without the person’s knowledge.
- Emotional abuse occurs when a person is threatened, humiliated, intimidated, or otherwise psychologically hurt. It includes the violation of an adult’s right to make decisions and the loss of his or her privacy.
- Sexual abuse includes rape or other unwanted, nonconsensual sexual contact. It also can mean forced or coerced nudity, exhibitionism, and other non-touching sexual situations, regardless of the age of the perpetrator.
