On March 15, 2018 we published Special Report DA-18-14 IS THE PROCESS FOR HANDLING REFERRALS OF INSTITUTIONAL ABUSE AGAINST THE ELDERLY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE FAMILY EFFECTIVE? The Report is the product of an operational audit of the Department of the Family's Services Program for the Elderly and Adults with Disabilities to determine whether it was effective in carrying out its functions, and in achieving its objectives and goals related to handling referrals of institutional abuse against the elderly.
Related news in El Vocero newspaper:
InterNewsService
March 16, 2018
The Office of the Comptroller carried out an operational audit of the Department of the Family's Services Program for the Elderly and Adults with Disabilities, which detected a lack of staff and serious failures in the handling of referrals.
According to the report, the program “is not effective” in handling referrals of institutional abuse against the elderly and the organizational structure of the institutional abuse units is “disjointed” as a result of the lack of staff.
In addition, it was established that the Auxiliary Administration of Services for the Elderly and Adults with Disabilities does not have supervision mechanisms to monitor the work of the institutional abuse units.
Likewise, the audit determined that the staff of the institutional abuse units do not receive the training necessary to investigate the referrals and there is no communication between the institutional abuse units and the licensing offices, “which is necessary for carrying out the functions of these areas.”
The report also pointed out that, 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 ran into problems accessing it and viewing the referrals.
“The Department does not have statistics that provide it with the information necessary for making decisions and taking actions related to handling referrals of institutional abuse against the elderly,” the Office of the Comptroller's document also indicated.
In turn, the audit states that the Department's and ADFAN's Management System 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.
Related news in El Nuevo Día newspaper:
An audit by the Office of the Comptroller highlights that the Department of the Family does not handle referrals correctly
Friday, March 16, 2018 – 12:00 AM
The Services Program for the Elderly and Adults with Disabilities of the Administration of Families and Children(Adfan), sheltered by the Department of the Family, was not effective in handling referrals of possible abuse against this population and, due to a lack of employees, keeps the units that should be dedicated to this task “disjointed,” an operational audit by the Office of the Comptroller revealed.
Likewise, the audit, which covered the period from July 1, 2013 to August 31, 2016, revealed that the program does not have “supervision mechanisms to monitor the work of the institutional abuse units.”
The OCPR auditors found that they also do not have training or statistics to guide the decisions and actions for handling referrals of institutional abuse against the elderly.
During the time of the audit, Idalia Colón Rondón held the Family secretariat, and the position of administrator of Families and Children was held, at some point during the period reviewed, by Vanesa Pintado Rodríguez and Irisel Collazo Nazario.
El Nuevo Día requested an interview with the current Family secretary, Glorimar Andújar, but, at the close of this edition, the official had not responded.
The conclusion that the Adfan program is “disjointed” is supported by several findings detailed in the audit report, signed by the Comptroller, Yesmín Valdivieso. The audit highlights that, as of July 5, 2016, the institutional abuse units had only 18 investigators to handle the referrals in 10 regional offices and that, in the Aguadilla Regional Office, the Adult Institutional Abuse Unit (UMIA) had not been created.
“We also found that the organizational structure of the Mayagüez UMIA has been unstable as a consequence of staff turnover, both of the supervisors and of the investigators,” the audit reads.
The only investigator at the Mayagüez UMIA “retired” in 2011, and since then cases in that region were not being investigated. “The absence of investigations during five years, in the Mayagüez area, promoted that the elderly persons against whom acts of institutional abuse were committed were left unprovided for and unprotected in the face of the lack of staff to investigate their cases,” the report says.
The audit indicates that there were no “periodic meetings” with the employees of the units to evaluate their performance nor training initiatives. And although Family established a training unit, it “does not evaluate the training needs of the staff that provide services in the area of adults,” indicates the report, available on the Office of the Comptroller's website.
Some documents on this page are saved in PDF format.
To view these documents, you must have the following free program installed.
