State of Vermont Set to Hire More Staff to Investigate Elder Abuse Cases
A state agency in Vermont has agreed to hire new staff members, responding to calls within 48 hours, and creating new procedures to avoid future problems. According to the report, the state agency currently has a backlog of over 300 cases awaiting investigation. The Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living was facing a lawsuit from the Vermont Legal Aid and two other groups pending an agreement to the plan set out to correct the problem. The advocacy groups became aware of the backlog in a meeting held by state officials in December.
Since then, the advocacy groups have been trying to get the state to introduce new policy and procedures to deal with the backlog of cases. The advocacy groups claimed that the backlog was caused by a short staff and budget cuts at the Adult Protective Services division in the Department. The department intends to complete the backlogged cases by October 1st and the Vermont Legal Aid as well as a disability rights group will oversee the cases that come into the state agencies hands. The state agency will then respond to each case within 48 hours of receipt.
The fact that the advocacy groups have been pushing state agencies to correct these issues with elder abuse cases demonstrates how strongly people notice a major problem with the current laws and procedures. The report states that some cases of elder abuse have gone several months without any type of investigation. However, despite the backlog of cases in this specific state agency’s hands, it does not indicate that they are not trying to reduce the number of cases they receive. Understaffing is often caused because of a lack of finances set in place to hire new employees to investigate these claims.
The fact that the state agencies are now taking steps to ensure that they have financing set in place and are attempting to hire new employees to investigate these matters would indicate that the growing concern over elder abuse has been noticed and will be taken care of over time. The victims in these cases do not deserve to be forced to wait for the care and assistance they may require. It is extremely important for state agencies to respond as quickly as possible to these claims in order to truly make a dent in the number of cases of elder abuse and neglect that are brought up in the entire nation.
