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APS
Adult protective Services

The Adult Protective Services Facility Investigations Program investigates reports of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of persons with disabilities (children and adults) receiving services in state operated and/or contracted settings that serve adults and children with mental illness, intellectual disabilities, or developmental disabilities. Investigation results are sent to the facility or program administrator for appropriate action.

Total Average Filled Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Staff

Caseworkers 121.5
Supervisors 22.7
Other Staff 24.2
Total APS Facility Staff 168.4

Worker demographic

Turnover Rate   24.1%
Agency Tenure Less than 1 Year 7.8%
1-3 Years 28.7%
Greater than 3 Years 63.5%
Entry Salary   $29,932.92
Average Age   41.2
Race/Ethnicity African-American 16.50%
Anglo 57.4%
Hispanic 26.1%
Other 0.0%

Supervisor Demographics

Turnover Rate   4.4%
Agency Tenure Less than 1 Year 4.5%
1-3 Years 0.0%
Greater than 3 Years 95.5%
Entry Salary   $38,145.96
Average Age   45.7
Race/Ethnicity African-American 9.1%
Anglo 77.3%
Hispanic 13.6%
Other 0.0%

APS Facility Expenditures

APS Facility Staff $9,569,597

Description of the Report Investigation Process

Step 1: Notifications

The following persons are notified within one hour of the receipt of the intake:

  • Facility administrator
  • Law enforcement if allegations involves serious physical injury, sexual abuse, or death of an adult.
  • Law enforcement of any allegation involving a child.
Step 2: Investigation Activities
  • Face to face contact with alleged victims
  • Interview of witnesses and alleged perpetrator
  • Collection of written statements and documentary evidence.
  • Photographing of injuries
  • Photographing/diagramming scene of incident
  • Gathering other relevant evidence
Step 3: Investigation Findings
  • Analyze evidence
  • Determine finding(s)
  • Generate investigative report
  • Provide report to facility administrator
  • Provide report to law enforcement if investigation confirms abuse, neglect, or exploitation that may constitute a criminal offense

Note: This chart is for reference only and does not necessarily represent the flow of a case.

Statistics FY 2012

  • Completed MH&ID Investigations: 10,803
  • Confirmed MH&ID Investigations: 1,259

Most Common...

  • Person reporting abuse/neglect/exploitation: Institutional Personnel (28.6%)
  • Allegation confirmed: Neglect (59.4%)
  • MH & ID setting investigated: State Supported Living Centers (34.5%)
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Legal Responsibility for APS Facility

Statutory References

Federal: Title XX, Social Security Act
State: Human Resources Code, Chapters 40 and 48
Texas Family Code, Title V
Health and Safety Code, Chapter 532 and Chapters 591-595

Major Provisions

  • Mandatory reporting of abuse, neglect, and exploitationof persons receiving services in state-operated mental health and intellectual and developmental disability facilities (State Hospitals, State Supported Living Centers, and Rio Grande State Center) and/or state contracted settings (Community Centers, Home and Community-based Services programs, Texas Home Living Waiver Program, and privately-operated Intermediate Care Facilities for Persons with intellectual disabilities (ICF-IID).
  • After an allegation is reported to DFPS Abuse Hotline APS initiates investigations by notifying the facility or provider agency within one hour. APS also notifies law enforcement and the Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General (OIG) within one hour, if necessary.
  • Refer reports to other state agencies when DFPS is not the appropriate investigating agency
  • Notify OIG(Office of Inspector General) and local law enforcement if APS has cause to believe a crime may have been committed
  • Report findings to the facility or provider
  • Make referrals to the Employee Misconduct Registry of certain confirmed perpetrators
  • Confidentiality of case records

Other Programmatic Information:

Factors Contributing to Abuse, Neglect, and
Exploitation:
  • Physical Conditions/Quality of Care
  • Lack of facility/ provider training, policy or procedures
  • Staff burnout
  • Staff shortages that lead to staff stress
  • Inadequate case manager planning for behavioral concerns
    or plans of care
  • Physical and mental stress of familial care giving in foster
    care settings
Challenges:
  • Meeting Department of Justice requirements including
    commencement of investigations, prior case history
    searches, and 10 day investigation timeframes in State
    Supported Living Centers and Rio Grande State Center
  • Requests by Law Enforcement or OIG that APS stop its
    investigation until they have finished
  • Staff shortages in facilities affecting access to staff for
    interviews
  • Lack of training and policy in place for community
    providers
  • Inability to find private space to conduct interviews
  • Increase in number of intakes with fewer investigators to
    conduct investigations

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Completed Facility Investigations by Source of Report
Fiscal Year 2012

Sources Number Percent
Institutional Personnel 3,112 28.6%
Victim 2,644 24.3%
Medical Personnel 1,129 10.4%
Community Agency 931 8.6%
Other 690 6.3%
Anonymous 554 5.1%
DFPS Staff 429 3.9%
Provider 283 2.6%
Parent 267 2.5%
Relative 181 1.7%
State Agency 166 1.5%
Unrelated Home Member 118 1.1%
Unrelated Law Enforcement 113 1.0%
Friend/Neighbor 86 0.8%
School 69 0.6%
Legal/Court 68 0.6%
Day Care Provider 24 0.2%
24 Hour Care Provider 13 0.1%
Blank/Unknown 7 0.1%
Religious Entity 3 0.0%
Parent's Paramour 1 0.0%
State Total 10,888 100.0%

Note: A report of abuse/neglect/exploitation may come from multiple sources.

Average Length of Completed Facility Investigations by Region
Fiscal Year 2012

Region Investigations Average Days
1 Lubbock 416 13.6
2 Abilene 1,452 7.0
3 Arlington 1,098 11.3
4 Tyler 689 8.5
5 Beaumont 318 11.2
6 Houston 734 14.6
7 Austin 2,483 11.4
8 San Antonio 1,225 14.2
9 Midland 1,216 9.2
10 El Paso 275 9.4
11 Edinburg 897 8.9
Grand Total 10,803 10.7

 

Number of Facility Investigations Referred to Law Enforcement by Setting
Fiscal Year 2012

Setting Law Enforcement Provided Notification of Investigation* Law Enforcement Provided Investigation Report**
State Supported Living Centers 2,258 1,698
State Hospitals 1,456 636
HCS Homes 1,182 426
ICF-IID 457 188
Community MHID Centers 216 72
State Centers 112 70
Other 12 1
Total 5,693 3,091

* Notification sent on investigations which involve a child or serious physical injury, sexual abuse, or death of an adult person served.
** This data includes all cases in which a final investigation report was sent regardless of investigation disposition.

Types of Confirmed Allegations in Facility Settings
Fiscal Year 2012

Types of Confirmed Allegations Number Percent
Neglect  1,279 59.4%
Physical Abuse 439 20.4%
Emotional Abuse 274 12.7%
Exploitation 143 6.6%
Sexual Abuse 17 0.8%

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Characteristics of Victims in Confirmed Facility Investigations
Fiscal Year 2012

Characteristic: Race/Ethnicity

Characteristic:
Race/Ethnicity		 Female Percent of Total Male Percent of Total Unknown Percent of Total Subtotal Percent of Total
Anglo 344 19.8% 636 36.6% 3 0.2% 983 56.6%
African American 78 4.5% 201 11.6% 0 0.0% 279 16.1%
Hispanic 137 7.9% 269 15.5% 1 0.1% 407 23.4%
Native American 1 0.1% 1 0.1% 0 0.0% 2 0.1%
Asian 6 0.3% 5 0.3% 0 0.0% 11 0.6%
Other 27 1.6% 27 1.6% 2 0.1% 56 3.2%
Total Victims 593 34.1% 1,139 65.5% 6 0.3% 1,738 100%

* As recommended by the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to ensure consistency across all HHSC agencies, in 2012, the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) adopted the HHSC methodology on how to categorize race and ethnicity. As a result, data broken down by race/ethnicity in 2012 and after is not directly comparable to race/ethnicity data in 2011 and before. 

Note: A completed investigation may have more than one victim.

Characteristics of Perpetrators in Confirmed Facility Investigations
Fiscal Year 2012

Perpetrator Characteristic: Race/Ethnicity

Race/Ethnicity Female Percent of Total Male Percent of Total Unknown Percent of Total Subtotal Percent of Total
Anglo 171 12.2% 100 7.1% 4 0.3% 275 19.5%
African American 364 25.9% 204 14.5% 7 0.5% 575 40.9%
Hispanic 176 12.5% 152 10.8% 3 0.2% 331 23.5%
Native American 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Asian 4 0.3% 2 0.1% 0 0.0% 6 0.4%
Other 46 3.3% 32 2.3% 142 10.1% 220 15.6%

Note: A completed investigation may have more than one victim.

Perpetrator Characteristic: Age

Age Female Percent of Total Male Percent of Total Unknown Percent of Total Subtotal Percent of Total
Under 18 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 0.1% 1 0.1%
18-25 189 13.4% 178 12.7% 11 0.8% 378 26.9%
26-35 206 14.6% 137 9.7% 27 1.9% 370 26.3%
36-45 135 9.6% 77 5.5% 31 2.2% 243 17.3%
Over 45 230 16.3% 96 6.8% 20 1.4% 346 24.6%
Unknown 1 0.1% 2 0.1% 66 4.7% 69 4.9%
Total 761 54.1% 490 34.8% 156 11.1% 1,407 100%

* As recommended by the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to ensure consistency across all HHSC agencies, in 2012, the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) adopted the HHSC methodology on how to categorize race and ethnicity.   As a result, data broken down by race/ethnicity in 2012 and after is not directly comparable to race/ethnicity data in 2011 and before. 

Note: Each victim may have more than one perpetrator. Each perpetrator may have more than one victim.

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Completed Facility Investigations by Fiscal Year

Fiscal Year Completed Investigations
2008 8,870
2009 9,730
2010 9,922
20110 10,981
2012 10,803

Completed Facility Investigations by Setting
Fiscal Year 2012

Fiscal Year Completed Investigations
State Supported Living Centers 3,724
State Hospitals 2,693
HCS 2,623
Private ICFs/IID 1,048
Community Centers 536
State Centers 179
Total 10,803

Disposition of Completed Facility Investigations
Fiscal Year 2012

Setting of Facility Investigations

Setting Confirmed (%)Confirmed Unconfirmed (%)Unconfirmed Inconclusive (%)Inconclusive
Community Center 98 0.9% 203 1.9% 79 0.7%
HCS 452 4.2% 1,199 11.1% 367 3.4%
Private ICFs/IID 169 1.6% 375 3.5% 130 1.2%
State Center 22 0.2% 134 1.2% 10 0.1%
State Hospital 126 1.2% 1,293 12.0% 138 1.3%
SSLC 392 3.6% 1,829 16.9% 179 1.7%
State Total 1,259 11.7% 5,033 46.6% 903 8.4%

Setting of Facility Investigations

Setting Unfounded (%)Unfounded Other (%)Other Blank (%)Blank Total (%)Total
Community Center 3 0.0% 78 0.7% 75 0.7% 536 5.0%
HCS 19 0.2% 372 3.4% 214 2.0% 2,623 24.3%
Private ICFs/IID 4 0.0% 209 1.9% 161 1.5% 1,048 9.7%
State Center 0 0.0% 4 0.0% 9 0.1% 179 1.7%
State Hospital 120 1.1% 563 5.2% 453 4.2% 2,693 24.9%
SSLC 529 4.9% 467 4.3% 328 3.0% 3,724 34.5%
State Total 675 6.2% 1,693 15.7% 1,240 11.5% 10,803 100%

Region of Facility Investigations

Region Confirmed (%)Confirmed Unconfirmed (%)Unconfirmed Inconclusive (%)Inconclusive
1 Lubbock 113 1.0% 166 1.5% 56 0.5%
2 Abilene 146 1.4% 712 6.6% 81 0.7%
3 Arlington 178 1.6% 508 4.7% 116 1.1%
4 Tyler 33 0.3% 275 2.5% 41 0.4%
5 Beaumont 70 0.6% 148 1.4% 37 0.3%
6 Houston 124 1.1% 303 2.8% 125 1.2%
7 Austin 206 1.9% 1048 9.7% 168 1.6%
8 San Antonio 117 1.1% 637 5.9% 109 1.0%
9 Midland 118 1.1% 562 5.2% 79 0.7%
10 El Paso 52 0.5% 131 1.2% 17 0.2%
11 Edinburg 102 0.9% 543 5.0% 74 0.7%
State Total 1,259 11.7% 5,033 46.6% 903 8.4%

Region of Facility Investigations

Region Unfounded (%)Unfounded Other (%)Other Blank (%)Blank Subtotal (%)Subtotal
1 Lubbock 8 0.1% 68 0.6% 5 0.0% 416 3.9%
2 Abilene 84 0.8% 237 2.2% 192 1.8% 1,452 13.4%
3 Arlington 26 0.2% 88 0.8% 182 1.7% 1,098 10.2%
4 Tyler 4 0.0% 5 0.0% 331 3.1% 689 6.4%
5 Beaumont 1 0.0% 31 0.3% 31 0.3% 318 2.9%
6 Houston 2 0.0% 36 0.3% 144 1.3% 734 6.8%
7 Austin 399 3.7% 428 4.0% 234 2.2% 2,483 23.0%
8 San Antonio 23 0.2% 312 2.9% 27 0.2% 1225 11.3%
9 Midland 33 0.3% 401 3.7% 23 0.2% 1,216 11.3%
10 El Paso 3 0.0% 69 0.6% 3 0.0% 275 2.5%
11 Edinburg 92 0.9% 18 0.2% 68 0.6% 897 8.3%
State Total 675 6.2% 1,693 15.7% 1,240 11.5% 10,803 100%

Note: "Other" and "Blank" include cases referred back to the provider or closed at intake because they do not meet the definitions of abuse, neglect or exploitation and therefore are not investigated.

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