Time-frame for Reporting Elder Abuse

A question came up at a “law and ethics in geriatric mental health” training in LA County regarding the requirements for reporting elder abuse. Specifically, the question was whether or not there is a period of time within which mandated reporters must make a report when they know of or suspect elder or dependent adult abuse?

The California statute requires that a report is made by telephone “immediately, or as soon as practically possible, and by written report sent within two working days.” A link to the form for written reports in use as of 4/10/2007 is below. Instructions are included, including how many copies to make and to whom they must be sent.

The reporting form can be downloaded from the State of California here.

Also remember that the telephone numbers for adult protective services are different, depending on the county in which the suspected abuse takes place.  A list of phone numbers for the various county adult protective services agencies can be found here.

As always, clinicians working in an agency should be sure to follow the administrative guidelines set out by that agency, so long as those guidelines don’t conflict with the reporting requirements or other requirements.

If there are any other questions, please email me or post them as comments to this message. This is a very important topic.

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