APS created a case based on malicious anonymous report, my family wants to protect its rights

[Zigner]

So if you were being investigated for an issue not related to accusations of a crime, by an agency with the full power of the law behind it, with no clear understanding of how the matter may go or what your rights are, you would not be feeling a little stressed out? Perhaps if you could put yourself in the place of an elderly person with few resources, little or no social support, legal help that is expensive and difficult to navigate, etc you may see the matter from a completely different perspective.

Also, finding information like this online probably would not serve to make one more empowered and confident:
<link removed>

Commercial links are not allowed on this forum. I have reported your post. It will be replaced after being edited by Admin.

 

[stealth2]

Problem is, I think, that you have originally indicated that it was your father being accused of something. Seems that's not the case. So, yes, your defensiveness is a bit perplexing. Speaking as a sole caregiver to an elderly parent (two, prior to late last summer)...

 

[neotenousgoodbye]

You're saying that your dad was offered services that he does not need, and his (and your) response is not simply "no thanks"?

At first that was our inclination. But in the letter it says they have the right to make the final determination if the client needs their services. Based on some online research, and speaking to several lawyers over the phone, these are not people that are simply excited to offer you their services.

There have been cases where these organizations were able to obtain court orders and take custody of clients.

We were also thinking of hiring a social worker who used to work for APS to help us navigate this case.

 

[Zigner]

Do what you feel you must. There really is nothing more that this forum can help you with. Best of luck to you and your father.

 

[neotenousgoodbye]

Commercial links are not allowed on this forum. I have reported your post. It will be replaced after being edited by Admin.

Sorry about placing that link, I genuinely did not know about that.

Can I keep the main message without the link?

Again, I apologize.

 

[Zigner]

Sorry about placing that link, I genuinely did not know about that.

Can I keep the main message without the link?

Again, I apologize.

It will be returned once admin. has edited it.

 

[neotenousgoodbye]

So, yes, your defensiveness is a bit perplexing.

Sorry, not sure what you mean here. How so? Could you elaborate?

 

[neotenousgoodbye]

It will be returned once admin. has edited it.

OK, thank you.

 

[stealth2]

So, what exactly do they think your father needs that he is not currently receiving? That would help give you some insight, especially as I have cared for both of my parents.

 

[neotenousgoodbye]

So, what exactly do they think your father needs that he is not currently receiving? That would help give you some insight, especially as I have cared for both of my parents.

,

My guess is that they are responding to the report and whatever information the report contained. If I was to venture a guess as to what information was contained in that report, it was probably close to the information the person put into another complaint to the city health department 2 months earlier.

In that earlier report, which the health department sent to the landlord (with a request that he look into the situation, which he never did), the person's complaint was put in quotes. The person complained that the tenant (my father) was living in filth and that the smell was so bad that it invaded his own apartment and made it difficult for him to breath and his throat sore.

In the nearly 20 years we have lived in this building, no one had any complaints with smell or noise from our apartment. This guy has been harassing my father like this for several years now, for no other reason than he just personally doesn't like him.

 

[LdiJ]

,

My guess is that they are responding to the report and whatever information the report contained. If I was to venture a guess as to what information was contained in that report, it was probably close to the information the person put into another complaint to the city health department 2 months earlier.

In that earlier report, which the health department sent to the landlord (with a request that he look into the situation, which he never did), the person's complaint was put in quotes. The person complained that the tenant (my father) was living in filth and that the smell was so bad that it invaded his own apartment and made it difficult for him to breath and his throat sore.

In the nearly 20 years we have lived in this building, no one had any complaints with smell or noise from our apartment. This guy has been harassing my father like this for several years now, for no other reason than he just personally doesn't like him.

When someone has lived in a place for a very long time, sometimes there are odors that someone has become accustomed to that smell really bad to someone else. Often, they are accumulated cooking smells that have seeped into carpets and fabrics, but they can also be pet smells and other things as well.

If that is what was reported to social services, that could explain why the case worker came back a second time, because she was smelling odors that you have become accustomed to. It wouldn't hurt to give the apartment a good spring cleaning, clean the carpets, wash curtains, wipe down the walls and spray all upholstered furniture with a goodly amount of Febreeze.

 

[commentator]

Stressed out is not the same as wildly defensive. Read java's postings above. I have worked in these type of situations, have known people who did investigative work of this type, and I still am much less apt to ooze sympathy for you when you so diligently proclaim innocence, who have been portraying yourself as so viciously besmirched and falsely accused the more you talk and protest. Anyone who is angry with anybody can usually find something to accuse them of. Might not hurt to clean up the apartment, too, just incase it's nose blindness that's involved. If there's nothing to see, no reason for a complaint stop acting like you're defending yourself too much and let the situation die naturally. They cannot be forced, legally, to drop the investigation and never ever do it again. Pushing to make this happen is going to do nothing but keep you in their spotlight.