Why It Matters

A recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, published Aug. 14, on adult protective services (APS) reveals a system stretched thin, with nearly 1.6 million reports of maltreatment filed last year but fewer than 900,000 accepted for investigation. In 2024, the Administration for Community Living published the first-ever federal regulations for APS programs.

Self-neglect alone accounts for majority of victims, yet states operate under no uniform definition of who qualifies for services or what those services must include. Only 46 percent of confirmed victims receive protective or social services, leaving substantial gaps in care.

The Big Picture

The report documents how APS programs operate across all 50 states, Washington D.C., and five U.S. territories with starkly different eligibility rules. Thirty-five states serve adults with disabilities of any age, while 13 states limit coverage to younger people with disabilities plus older adults aged 60 or 65 and older. APS investigative authority over residential facilities varies by state.

The gap between maltreatment and those who cleared screenings reflect not just capacity constraints but also strict eligibility criteria that screen out cases falling outside population, setting, or jurisdiction definitions. Financial exploitation and neglect rank second and third in victim counts, yet the system's service delivery remains uneven. Only 39 percent of all APS clients received protective and social services, a figure that highlights the distance between investigation and intervention.

Regular discretionary appropriations doubled from $15 million in fiscal 2022 to $30 million in fiscal 2023, with the full $15 million increase directed to formula grants to states. States historically funded APS primarily through their own resources, and the expiration of $100 million in Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act funding and $276 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding has created a fiscal cliff.

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