Each month, OKDHS helps more than , children, people with disabilities and elderly Oklahomans lead safer, healthier, more independent and productive lives. The mission of the Adult Protective Services APS program is to provide direction, information and support to OKDHS staff and the Oklahoma community to assure a consistent system of protective services for vulnerable adults.
APS is a multi-faceted program for persons 18 and older who are vulnerable and have allegedly been the victim of maltreatment by a caretaker or themselves. It is rewarding to eliminate abuse and neglect, and to resolve issues that the person could not or would not address on his or her own. Grady County is a rural county, and I've been out in the 'boonies' many times trying to find my client.
The resources are stretched thinner in counties like this that are away from the bigger cities. Depending on the referral, I carry a bag of hygiene items to give out. I've put the bags together from donations - shampoo, soap, toothpaste and toothbrush, comb, lotion, etc. Our office has fans that were donated, and I always carry one in my trunk as I've already given out many to clients with no air conditioning. This process can take up to an hour for all, depending on how many we have to assign.
From there I spend the day checking and reading cases, fielding phone calls from angry clients or family members and sometimes happy ones , staffing cases with my workers to offer suggestions on service plans to assist the client, returning e-mails, answering questions, assisting in emergency calls or situations in which staff may have been assigned a case that has taken a turn for the worse, attending court hearings as needed, training, meetings and so on.
I supervise APS staff in four county offices with a total of 10 staff members, and travel weekly to the outlying county offices. To be an effective APS investigator, one must have patience, compassion, be non-judgmental, creative in finding ways to assist a client, organized, be a huge team player, and willing to drop everything immediately to deal with an emergency or whatever situation may come his or her way.
