Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 5, March 10, 2024
A.
The county department shall review and evaluate all reports received utilizing
the RED Team process and framework or a review by a supervisor or lead worker
to determine whether the report should be screened in for investigation or
screened out. If RED Team is the selected method, the county shall utilize the
RED Team framework in CAPS.
B. The
county department shall first determine whether the report involves
mistreatment or self-neglect of an adult the county department could reasonably
conclude was an at-risk adult at the time of the mistreatment, based upon
information in the report related to physical, medical, and/or cognitive
deficits or diagnoses and/or information in prior APS reports or
cases.
C. If the report does not
involve mistreatment or self-neglect of an at-risk adult the report shall be
screened out no later than the third working day after receipt of the
report.
D. If the report does
involve mistreatment or self-neglect of an at-risk adult, the county department
shall then make a screening decision based on a determination as to whether the
report meets one of the exceptions outlined below:
1. The report shall be screened out and the
county department shall not complete an investigation when:
a. The alleged incidence was previously
investigated and there is no new information in the report that impacts the
client's current health, safety, or welfare;
b. The only allegation is self-neglect of an
adult who has been assessed by APS within the past six months, and, the
self-neglect is substantively unchanged from the previous APS case, and the
adult has a recent history of refusing services, and there is no reported
decline in the adult's abilities and/or change in circumstances;
c. There is no information to locate the
client and no ability to obtain additional information necessary to proceed
with an investigation;
d. The only
allegation is self-neglect and the county department has confirmed with the
reporting party or other professional that the adult has been moved to a
stable, long-term and safe placement, the client has sufficient services in
place to mitigate risks, or the adult died prior to the county department's
screening decision.
2.
The report may be screened out when:
a. The
mistreatment occurred more than one hundred-eighty (180) days prior to the
report; and,
b. The county
department can reasonably determine that the alleged perpetrator no longer has
contact with the client and/or is no longer providing direct care to at-risk
adults, pursuant to Section 30.960.A.
c. The county department may screen the
report in for investigation at the county department's discretion.
3. Reports not subject to an
exception outlined in Section 30.420.D.1 and 2 shall be screened in for
investigation and are determined to be a case; except when a new allegation(s)
is received and the county department has a current open case, the new report
shall be screened out and the new allegation shall be added to and investigated
in the current open case.
E. If the report is screened out, the county
department may:
1. Contact the adult to offer
services for another program in the county department, such as Medicaid or
behavioral health services, and/or provide referral information to the adult
for another service agency, or refer the reporting party to another agency or
resource.
2. Inform the reporting
party of the decision not to investigate.
F. The county department shall document the
reason the report was screened out.
