This is the fifth of six in a series describing the focus of the N.C. Senior Tar Heel Legislature leading up to the 2023 legislative session of the N.C. General Assembly.
By Allison Brown, Contributing Writer
The N.C. Senior Tar Heel Legislature N.C. Senior Tar Heel Legislature’s Crime-Safety Issues Committee, chaired by Rosalyn Pettyford of Durham County, focuses on physical, emotional and financial threats faced by older adults. The topics include fraud and scam schemes, elder abuse, residents’ rights, supporting Adult Protective Services, housing subsidies, ADA home improvements and enhancing disaster preparedness, among others.
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The Crime-Safety-Security Issues Committee received five proposals to review as possible resolutions. They included providing electronic notification devices for older adults living alone; enacting a Victim’s Rights Assistance Bill to compensate victims for injuries and damages; supporting efforts to reform N.C.’s Guardianship Law; updating N.C.’s judicial system to be more efficient for all N.C. citizens; and one of the longest-standing requests for the N.C. General Assembly, investing in the state’s Adult Protective Services program. After two weeks’ deliberation, the Committee chose the proposal to allocate recurring state funds to address current and future APS staff shortages as its primary recommendation that the NCSTHL body will consider when it votes to determine its top legislative priorities at the October General Session.
In N.C., county departments of social services are mandated by statute 108A to investigate reports of the abuse, neglect and exploitation of older, disabled and vulnerable adults. Most people have heard of Child Protective Services, but many do not realize their county department of social services is also responsible for Adult Protective Services, when older adults are subject to mistreatment. Mistreatment includes physical, sexual, psychological abuse, neglect, self-neglect and financial exploitation.
With the growth in the older adult population, county departments of social services APS units are simply overwhelmed by increased demand. In SFY 2005-2006, across the state, APS received 14,001 reports, compared to 32,075 reports received in SFY 2020-21, reflecting an increase of 129 percent in 17 years. Compare this growth in the number of abuse reports to the growth rate of the older adult population. In 2005, there were 1.46 million adults age 60-plus, increasing to 2.46 million in 2021, for an increase of 68 percent. The increase in the number of APS reports is almost double the rate of increase in the age 60-plus population, indicating a tragic rise in the percentage of older adults who are experiencing mistreatment. Added to that, the NYS Elder Abuse Prevalence Study reports that for every one case that is reported, 24 cases go unreported.
In North Carolina, the federal Social Services Block Grant funds 21 percent of the programs, the counties fund the remaining 79 percent, and the state provides no funding. Unfortunately, the SSBG is a shared bucket of funding across several other county DSS departments, which results in disparities across counties as to availability of APS resources. Often, the limited SSBG funds earmarked for APS are depleted by mid-year.