A recent Miami Herald investigation reveals Florida's Department of Children and Protective Services often removes elderly residents unable to care for themselves from their homes without a court hearing. And some have been sent to assisted living facilities with troubled records of violations or without family members even knowing.
The reporting details how DCF's Adult Protection Program removes frail or disabled adults from unkept homes for their own safety, only to land in facilities with similar conditions.
According to the investigation, these facilities had a history of "hurting, ignoring or humiliating their residents." One example given was a woman dying after suffering a seizure, falling and getting no medical care for hours.
DCF told the Miami Herald it "scrutinizes placements" for vulnerable adults by reviewing DCF abuse investigations and Agency for Health Care Administration inspections.
On "The Florida Roundup," Carol Marbin Miller with the Miami Herald spoke about her investigation, the role of the state's adult protective services, what family members should be thinking about and more.
The interview below was edited for clarity and brevity.
What's the role of the state's Adult Protective Services?
The state intervenes when elders or disabled adults are in trouble.
That could be financial exploitation, it could be physical abuse from a family member, and it can just be that the elder no longer is capable of caring for herself or himself in place.
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And so a large percentage of the cases that are fielded by the Department of Children and Families Adult Protective Services are elders who are not safe in their current circumstances.
They are forgetful. They can't clean the house. They leave the stove on unattended. DCF's hotline gets a call. They visit the elder in her home, and if it is their conclusion that she is not safe there, they will take her into state custody.
Your investigation found the great majority of those individuals taken into state custody don't have a lawyer. A judge doesn't see them or hear about the case to decide whether or not the state is making an appropriate decision.
According to data that we got from the Department of Children and Families, about 95% of the elders and disabled adults taken into state custody never appear before a judge — do not have the benefit of counsel.
"The moves were made without anyone's knowledge. Sometimes in the middle of the night."Carol Marbin Miller
They are simply removed from their homes and moved into an ALF (assisted living facility) of DCF's choosing.
What is the due process that ought to be followed here?
The due process under state law, which is codified in chapter 415 of the state statutes, is that if the state takes you from your home against your will, you have a right to a hearing. You have a right to counsel.
DCF seems to be threading a needle in which, if I understand them exactly, they are claiming that 95% of the people whom they take into custody agree to the movement that DCF dictates. And they are competent to consent to DCF actions.
The problem is that we interviewed several elders or family members of elders who told us that family members were not apprised or consulted.
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The moves were made without anyone's knowledge. Sometimes in the middle of the night. Family members told us that they went looking for their father or uncle, couldn't find him, and then learned that they'd been taken by the state and put in an ALF that the family members had never heard of.
In some cases, we looked at records in which DCF's own documents show that the elder simply was not competent to consent to DCF action, but it happened anyway.
Election officials, state lawmakers have been responding to your findings here that the great majority of elderly who wind up in the care of the state don't go through due process.
We got calls, in fact, from some state lawmakers who oversee the Department of Children and Families and Elder Affairs. And we spoke to others.
There was an outpouring of interest in first doing their job of physical oversight, asking questions of DCF leadership, demanding records, but also some interest in sponsoring legislation that might lead to reform.
"Go to an attorney now. You're never too young to think about old age and get guardianships or proposed guardianships for when you may need them later."Carol Marbin Miller
Currently, under the law that governs this program, elders are entitled to a hearing before a judge, but to the extent that DCF controls every aspect of that process.
If the elder or her family members don't know that, and they don't understand that they have a right to hire a lawyer on grandma's behalf, then there is no oversight.
And so one lawmaker I interviewed spoke of perhaps a pilot project in Miami-Dade that guarantees a court hearing for everyone taken into state custody — regardless of whether DCF believes they're competent to consent.
What should family members be thinking about if they know that they have an elderly family member who is increasingly incapable of taking care of themselves?
We did a story as part of this package that offered advice from elder lawyers and elder advocates.
One of the pieces of advice that I thought was right on target was don't wait until you're 70, 85, before you protect yourself legally.
Go to an attorney now. You're never too young to think about old age and get guardianships or proposed guardianships for when you may need them later.
Think about health care surrogates and medical proxies. Have wills. If you don't want to be brought back to life when you go into cardiac arrest, put your Do Not Resuscitate Order on a magnet on your refrigerator where paramedics will see it.
Get all that legal work done while you're still young and able to do it. Don't wait for the crisis to emerge.
When the crisis does occur, make sure that your loved ones are in your corner, that they have the wherewithal to call an attorney on your behalf — that they will ask the attorney to request a hearing to determine what your wishes are if you're taken from your home.
You don't have to agree to what a caseworker determines. You have rights, and that's why we have judges and courthouses.
This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Tom Hudson for "The Florida Roundup."
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