Adult Daycare Programs are Highly Susceptible to Fraud and Abuse.

Adult daycare centers provide dependent adults living in the community with care and supervision in a protective setting.  Centers can be either medical or social.  The medical adult daycares are regulated by DADS.  It is in the area of social adult daycares where there has been a large amount of growth in San Antonio.

 These centers are meant to keep seniors & disabled adults in a safe daytime environment and make sure they are properly fed and medicated.  Some of the other services provided are social and recreational activities and for sustaining activities of daily living. 

However, legal advocates for the elderly and disabled have become concerned about the social adult daycare programs. These reasons, these centers may be susceptible to fraud and abuse.

There are so few rules that the centers need to abide that it would be difficult to charge them with medical malpractice should any negligence occur.  Without review and supervision of the centers there is no guarantee that that any state guidelines will be followed, which may increase the likelihood of clients abuse.

  Who Commits Abuse at Adult Day Cares?

Anyone who works at an adult day care can commit elder abuse to one of the seniors or the disabled persons who goes there. In the past, adult day cares have been sued because of abuse committed by general staff members and even by the bus drivers. Some abuse that occurs in adult day cares is unintentional. This is because most of the staff are not medical professionals and therefor they  lack the training necessary to provide adequate care to the elderly. This often results in dangerous situations when negligent behavior causes injury and health problems.

    What Types of Elder Abuse Can Occur at     Adult Day Care Centers?

Elderly people who attend adult day care are at risk of all forms of elderly abuse including physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and financial abuse. When adult day care centers are understaffed, the staff members may be overly stressed and exhausted.

In these circumstances, staff members are more likely to commit elder abuse. Because day care centers have very limited medical staff, there is an even greater likelihood that medical staff will feel stressed, exhausted, or frustrated.

Some actions that may qualify as elder abuse include:

1. Slapping
2. Pushing
3.Punching
4. Pinching
5. Scratching
6. Humiliation
7. Insulting
8. Name Calling
9.Yelling
10. Intimidation
11. Unwanted sexual contact
12. Neglect
13. Forced Isolation from the group

If you believe that an elderly loved one has been abused at an adult day care center,  you should contact the authorities as well as Adult Protective Services, so that the day care center can be investigated and future abuse can be prevented.