Special Report DA-18-14, Operational Audit: Department of the Family Administration for Families and Children
March 15, 2018
The Office of the Comptroller carried out an operational audit of the Program for Services to the Elderly and Adults with Disabilities of the Department of the Family (Department), to determine whether it was effective in the performance of its functions, and in the achievement of its objectives and goals related to the handling of referrals of institutional abuse of the elderly.
The most relevant results related to the operational audit of the Program for Services to the Elderly and Adults with Disabilities are:
The Program is not effective in handling the referrals of institutional abuse of the elderly.
The organizational structure of the institutional abuse units is disjointed, as a result of the lack of personnel to handle the referrals and the absence of the Aguadilla UMIA.
The Auxiliary Administration for Services to the Elderly and Adults with Disabilities does not have supervisory mechanisms to monitor the work of the institutional abuse units.
The staff of the institutional abuse units do not receive the necessary training for the investigation of the referrals.
There is no communication between all the institutional abuse units and the licensing offices, which is necessary for the fulfillment of the functions of these areas.
As of August 8, 2016, 40% of the institutional abuse units had not begun to use the mechanized system, implemented as of May 1, 2016, to receive and process the referrals, since they encountered problems accessing it and viewing the referrals.
The Department does not have statistics that provide it with the information necessary for decision-making and actions related to the handling of referrals of institutional abuse of the elderly.
The Management System of the Department and of ADFAN for the service of handling referrals of institutional abuse of the elderly is not effective, since it does not contain the elements necessary for measuring its goals, objectives and activities.
The Report covers the period from July 1, 2013 to August 31, 2016.
