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I am 43 and have been caring for my Mother and Father for 4+ years. I have been constantly harassed by Clark county Adult Protective Services. My Mother recently passed away after being held in a hospital bed for 2 weeks longer than necessary because APS told the hospital not to release her because they thought our home was unsafe. When they finally released her she came home sick with her first ever bed sores because they would not carry her to the bathroom like she had been going at home because they considered her a fall risk and forced her to go to the bathroom in her bed. She stopped eating because she hated the food and they rarely gave her water. She died from being there too long and it is because of Clark county APS. Shortly after she died me and my Father rented in an apartment and sold the house. While I was moving his stuff back and forth from Vancouver to Seattle I had a friend of our family watch him but she did not answer my calls when I drove from Seattle to Vancouver to get him and she called APS and turned him over for abandonment. She was obviously lying but APS was too foolish and focused on accusing me of something that they listened to her over me. They then locked his bank account so I got a job immediately to cover the rent but it’s a 2 bedroom apartment and too short of notice so I may not be able too on my income alone. We had the money from the sale of the house to cover rent and his SSI plus the money I made for taking care of him that was paid by the state, but all of that is gone over a misunderstanding and I may have no option but to default on the lease he and signed for the apartment and put everything in storage until this is a sorted out. They took the original APS agent of of the case. Her name is Taylor  and they put a supervisor Andy on the case and he is rude during the very few conversations we had. I have been writing state officials every day to complain and they are telling me that the Superior Court is involved and they are petitioning for Guardianship. What should I do to get my Fatger back? I am Durable Power of Attorney but he is being held at an undisclosed location by APS and I have not seen or heard from him in a month.

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The name Clark County jumped off the screen at me (recently watched The Guardians https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjX1cjYD1OY), but I see that you are in Washington, not Nevada.

Find out what protections your state has in place. If you cannot afford a lawyer, maybe try a legal aid organization?

I'm sorry I don't have any substantive advice to offer. I hope you receive lots of replies from others.

APS terrifies me. The performance of APS should be judged using the same tools that are used for medical interventions: for every one vulnerable adult who is helped, how many are harmed?

I'm sorry for your trauma, which I imagine is not unlike that experienced historically by others whose loved ones have been "disappeared."
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AlvaDeer May 2023
I respectfully disagree. As a retired RN I have seen both for children, women and elders the most dire cases of endangerment from family members. With CPS and APS I cannot imagine what would happen to these helpless individuals. And in fact, it is my opinion that not ENOUGH is done in protection for those who are helpless. No one with good records and a decent home has anything to fear from APS investigations; they should welcome them and present them with the facts of their excellent parenting or care of our elders.
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Your father has been removed from your care, and apparently this is legally done by APS through the courts who will now petition to be his guardian. They will assign a Fiduciary to manage his care. He will be placed in care, and applications made for Medicaid to pay for amounts over his SS. If you sold a home that was in his name, and lost the money from the sale they may file criminal charges against you, so I am hoping that wasn't the case.

If you wish Dad placed anywhere near your being able to access him for visits I would cooperate as much as you can make yourself, with all authorities, and would appear at any hearings.

We cannot know the truths of this situation, but it seems that APS has made a referral to the courts for guardianship by the State of your Dad. This is seldom done, and almost never done without reason. We cannot know why this is so, but it is so.

Fighting this would require your hiring an attorney and likely would require many thousands of dollars. You must know that the State has unlimited access to legal advice; I think you will not get an attorney to take your case for any price, though he/she would want up front payment to do so. That simply isn't doable for many, indeed for most.

I wish you and your Dad the best. I believe your cooperation at this point will get you farther than your fighting this. You will, if you cooperate fully, be able to visit your Dad at the least.
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Please tell us more about your father's condition. Does he have dementia? As MD1748 stated, he must be incapacitated and unable to make decisions for some other party to obtain guardianship. If he does have dementia, you and he will be better off in the long run if someone is taking proper care of him. You would not be able to do it by yourself. So you can look at it as sort of a blessing that the State is now taking care of him. If he has dementia and you were living with him for financial reasons, now is the time for you to tighten your bootstraps, work 2 jobs if you have to, and make it on your own. If he doesn't have dementia, then something is wrong here. Dad had the right to live where and with whom he wants. So what condition is your father in?
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KevinGrady May 2023
He has Alzheimer’s. It comes in waves and that is why I supervise him 24/7 or hire help if necessary.
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Thank you, Kevin, for providing more detail. If as you say you are primarily following your father's wishes by caring for him at home, and your father has been well taken care of, I'm truly sorry you are going through this mess. In the eyes of APS the situation may appear different, and now that they are involved unfortunately the burden of proof is going to be on you. I wish I could tell you differently, but if they feel you are financially taking advantage of him, you are going to have to clearly show through the bank records that you weren't. If you want to fight them, you are going to have to do it in court and convince a judge that it is in your father's best interests for him to stay with you. You likely can't do that successfully by yourself (though I wouldn't say it is impossible). I think you'd have a better chance with an attorney's help. Of course, you'd have to pay the attorney.

If you truly felt everything was OK with your situation living with dad, I'm surprised this "family friend" did what she did. Did you have any sense that she felt your father should be in a facility and not under your care before you had him stay with her?
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KevinGrady May 2023
I had no idea she would ever do such a thing.
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I hope I can find an attorney to help me. I feel like every day this goes by without me standing up for myself is pushing things closer to the point of no return to normalcy. How can APS consider this to be helping. I am completely left in the dark with the outcome of me and my Fathers relationship and this all started days after I lost my Mother. The APS supervisor is so incredibly rude and misunderstands and or deliberately attempts to construe the worst out of everything I say that it makes me question their actual intent and motives. I am a firm believer that if protective services are constantly consumed in finding what someone is doing wrong that they begin to be the ones doing things wrong. This evasive from clear communication and condescending rude demeanor of these particular APS employees has been the worst public service I have ever witnessed.. even worst than the people doing something wrong.
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KevinGrady May 2023
I am heartbroken at the suffering that is destined to take place by innocent family members caring for struggling family members. Someone needs to step in and analyze the way these Clark county APS employees are adding so much difficulty to people that are already dealing with an extreme hardship on their lives.
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Why the move?

What was the reason for selling up Mom & Dad's house & moving into a rental apartment?

Was the house old, needing costly repairs? Too many stairs or unsafe in other ways?

A fresh start in an area wirh more home help?

Or moving away from a house crammed with too many collections or belonings?
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