Home Care Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation Policy

Adopted by [Organization Name] | Effective Date: [Date] | Version: [1.0]

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Our Commitment

[Organization Name] does not tolerate abuse, neglect, or exploitation of any client. People invite caregivers into their homes. That trust is the job.

This policy tells caregivers, office staff, and supervisors what those words mean, how to prevent harm, and what to do the moment a concern arises. It is a starting point. Reporting duties, timeframes, and the agencies that must be notified depend on the organization’s license and the state where the client lives. Fill in those details before this policy is used, and review them with a qualified adviser.

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Who This Policy Covers

This policy applies to every person who works with clients or their information for [Organization Name], including:

• Employees, whether full-time, part-time, or temporary
• Independent contractors and staffing-agency workers assigned by us
• Volunteers, students, and trainees
• Supervisors, schedulers, and office staff who receive a concern

It applies during a visit, on the phone, in a text, and in any other contact with a client or the client’s household. It also applies when a caregiver learns of a concern away from the visit.

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Definitions

Client: A person who receives care or support from [Organization Name], including a person in a private home, an adult family home, or another setting we serve.

Abuse: Harm, or a real threat of harm, done on purpose. It includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or verbal abuse, and unreasonable confinement. It includes harm carried out in person or through a phone, camera, or social media. State law may define abuse more specifically. Use that definition where it applies.

Neglect: Failure to provide the care, supervision, food, shelter, hygiene, or medical follow-up that the person needs and that the assignment requires, when that failure causes harm or a serious risk of harm. It includes abandoning a visit, skipping required care without telling the office, or leaving a client unsafe.

Exploitation: Using a client’s money, property, benefits, medication, or trust for someone else’s gain. It includes taking cash, using a card or account, pressuring a client to change a will or power of attorney, or accepting payment outside the agency’s billing.

Caregiver: Any person covered by this policy who provides hands-on care or spends time alone with a client.

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Prevention

[Organization Name] reduces the chance of harm before a visit goes wrong.

• No caregiver is assigned to a client until the screening required by our license and this organization’s practice is complete, including a background check where one is required. Screening is repeated on the schedule in [screening schedule].
• Caregivers receive this policy, and training on how to recognize and report abuse, neglect, and exploitation, before working alone with a client. Training is repeated at least once a year.
• Visits follow the care plan and the schedule. If a caregiver cannot complete a visit, or a client needs more help than the plan provides, the caregiver calls [Supervisor title] before leaving the client unsafe.
• Clients and, when appropriate, their representatives are told how to raise a concern. The contact is [client concern phone or email].
• Supervisors watch for missed visits, unexplained injuries, sudden money problems, and caregivers who resist being observed.

Home care is often one caregiver in a home. That is expected. It is not permission to skip a check-in when something feels wrong. If a visit becomes unsafe, the caregiver leaves if they can do so without abandoning a client in immediate danger, and calls the office immediately.

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What Caregivers Must Not Do

Caregivers do not:

• Hit, shake, restrain, or threaten a client, except for a brief protective action needed to stop immediate harm, which is reported the same day
• Yell at, insult, humiliate, or deliberately ignore a client
• Have any sexual contact with a client, or make a sexual comment or request
• Take, borrow, or “hold” a client’s money, medication, cards, or property
• Ask a client to sign a legal or financial document, or to name the caregiver in a will or as a beneficiary
• Photograph a client, or share information about a client, except as the care plan and the organization’s privacy rules allow
• Discourage a client or family member from calling the office, a family member, or an outside agency

A fuller set of day-to-day limits is in the Caregiver Professional Boundaries Policy. Both policies apply.

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Recognizing a Concern

Caregivers are not investigators. They are expected to notice and report. A concern may look like:

• Bruises, burns, welts, or injuries the explanation does not fit, especially if they repeat
• Fear of a particular person, flinching, or a sudden change in mood or withdrawal
• Unclean conditions, missed meals, untreated sores, or a client left without agreed care
• Missing money, missing medication, unpaid bills that used to be paid, or a new “friend” controlling the checkbook
• A client who says they were hurt, threatened, or pressured, even if they ask the caregiver not to tell anyone

A client asking a caregiver not to tell does not cancel the duty to report. Tell the client you have to notify the office so they can be kept safe.

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Reporting

Report immediately. Do not wait for the end of the shift, and do not try to prove what happened first.

1. Make the client as safe as the situation allows. Call emergency services if someone is in immediate danger.
2. Tell [Supervisor title] at [supervisor phone] as soon as you can safely do so, and no later than the end of the visit unless a shorter time is required below.
3. If that person is involved in the concern, or cannot be reached, call [Alternate contact name and phone].
4. The person who receives the report notifies the outside agencies this license and the client’s state require. Those contacts, and the deadline that applies, are:

• Adult protective services or state abuse hotline: [agency name and phone]
• Law enforcement, when a crime may have occurred: [phone, usually 911]
• State licensing or survey agency, if notice is required: [agency and phone]
• Deadline for outside notice: [timeframe required by this license and state]

Do not agree with a family member to “keep it in the family.” Do not tell the person accused more than you must to protect the client. Write down what you saw or heard, when, and who was present. Use the client’s words where you can. Do not guess a cause.

[Organization Name] keeps a record of each report, who was notified, and what was done. That record is stored at [where reports are filed].

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Protecting the Client

While a concern is open:

• The client is not left with the person accused if we can assign someone else. The accused caregiver is removed from that client’s visits, and from other client visits when the concern warrants it, until the review is finished.
• Needed care continues. A missed visit is not an acceptable response to a report.
• The client, and the representative authorized to receive information, are told what we can share without interfering with an outside investigation.
• No one punishes a client for speaking up, including by threatening to drop services.

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Investigation

[Administrator title] or a person they name reviews every report. The review includes the caregiver’s account, the client’s account when the client can give one, and the notes from the visit. If an outside agency is investigating, we cooperate and do not run a parallel inquiry that could interfere.

The outcome is recorded. It may include more training, a change in assignment, discipline, ending the working relationship, or a finding that the concern was not substantiated. A finding that a report was not substantiated is not, by itself, a reason to punish the person who reported it in good faith.

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Non-Retaliation and Confidentiality

No one is punished for making a good-faith report, for cooperating with a review, or for refusing to take part in conduct this policy forbids. Good faith means an honest concern, not a proven fact. A report made knowing it is false is itself a violation.

Reports are shared only with people who need them to protect the client, run the review, or meet a legal duty. Caregivers do not discuss a report with other clients, on social media, or with people outside the organization except the agencies named above.

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Training and Review

Every person covered by this policy reads it before client contact and again at least once a year, or sooner if it changes. Completion is recorded.

[Administrator title] reviews this policy at least once a year, and after any serious incident, to confirm the phone numbers, the outside agencies, and the reporting deadline are still right.

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Acknowledgment

By signing, I confirm that I have received, read, and understand [Organization Name]‘s Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation Policy. I agree to follow it, including the duty to report a concern immediately. I understand that a violation may remove me from client assignments and may end my employment or other role.