Request for Information on 2016 National Voluntary Consensus Guidelines for State Adult Protective Services (APS) Systems

A new Request for Information (RFI) from the Administration on Aging (AoA) Office of Elder Justice and Adult Protective Services (OEJAPS) at ACL has been released to obtain input from stakeholders on updates to the 2016 National Voluntary Consensus Guidelines for State APS Systems (Guidelines).  
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Feedback must be submitted by May 31, 2019, to ejpubliccomments@acl.hhs.gov with “RFI APS Guidelines Updates” in the subject line.
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ACL developed the first National Voluntary Consensus Guidelines for APS in 2016, and published the Guidelines in 2017. In that document, ACL established a two-year interval by which to re-engage in the stakeholder consensus process to review and update the Guidelines. Consistent with this schedule, ACL initiated the process to revisit the Guidelines to incorporate new research findings and new focus areas for APS practices and policies in fall 2018. Additionally, ACL is leveraging this update to the Guidelines to identify research gaps in the area of APS, as well as determine the best intervals to periodically update the Guidelines.

Comments on all parts of the original and suggested updates to the Guidelines are welcome. Specifically, ACL is seeking input on the following areas:

1. Suggested updates to the Guidelines;
2. Additional topics to be considered for inclusion in the Guidelines;
3. Topic areas for which research on APS practices is lacking; and
4. Frequency at which ACL should re-engage stakeholders in the consensus process to update the Guidelines, and ideas on the most efficient way for stakeholders to provide input.

The Guidelines do not constitute any standard or regulation, do not create new legal obligations or impose any mandates or requirements, and do not create nor confer any rights for, or on, any person. The purpose of the Guidelines is to highlight effective and promising APS practices and encourage the adoption of these practices and the development of policies that support these practices across states.

Please review the RFI and for more information and details about the process for providing feedback. The 2016 Guidelines, the suggested updates, and a summary of recent literature supporting the suggested updates, are available on ACL’s Consensus Voluntary Guidelines webpage. Feedback must be submitted by May 31, 2019.