2020 census<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhen adjusted for population, Bexar County saw 4.4 investigations per 1,000 adults, compared with 3.3 per 1,000 people in Harris County.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A total of 6,305 individuals were served in the nearly 7,400 investigations APS opened last year involving older adults in Bexar County. APS often conducts more than one investigation for the same individual. Most of those investigations involved some form of neglect \u2014 more than 3,800 involved physical neglect and more than 1,000 involved medical neglect \u2014 while nearly 500 cases each involved physical abuse or financial exploitation. APS does not break down which categories were ultimately validated, but overall, the agency confirmed 59% of its Bexar County investigations last year. <\/p>\n
Lisa Centeno, a faith-based community engagement specialist with APS, said those figures reflect what caseworkers frequently encounter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do see exploitation and also physical abuse, but neglect is the highest,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd one thing to keep in mind is that when there\u2019s one form of abuse that\u2019s occurring, there\u2019s usually other forms of abuse that are co-occurring.\u201d <\/p>\n
Elder abuse rates in Bexar County<\/p>\n
Officials say several factors contribute to the county\u2019s high caseloads. Bexar County had the fourth-largest senior population in Texas in fiscal year <\/strong>2024, with more than 305,000 residents over age 65, making up 13.5% of the county\u2019s total population.\u00a0<\/p>\nAndrea Guerrero, director of Bexar County Public Health, said the unique culture and demographics of San Antonio and Bexar County also contribute to the number of incidents of elder abuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of families that live multi-generationally, where we have multiple generations living under the same roof, where you have grandparents, sometimes great-grandparents,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of times, when we see elder abuse, it is by a family member, by someone that they know. It could be just the proximity of having young adults and children who take advantage of parents and grandparents because they are more vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of trends, I am concerned,\u201d Guerrero said. \u201cI think all public health professionals are concerned for our most vulnerable populations, or populations that have been made vulnerable because of the recent cuts to federal funding, recent cuts to SNAP benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said financial strain, food scarcity, mental health issues and the loss of health insurance can all \u201cbe triggers that lead to a higher incidence of violence in the home.\u201d These patterns <\/strong>are typically seen in domestic violence cases, and bleed over into elder abuse cases. <\/p>\nWith federal cuts affecting social services like SNAP benefits, Medicaid and housing assistance, she said, the community may expect to see the number of elder abuse cases rise \u2014 underscoring the importance of taking a more strategic approach through efforts like the SJAC.<\/p>\n
Guerrero added that while demographic and economic pressures shape the number of cases, the biggest bottleneck for Bexar County is coordination across agencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201dI think that all of the agencies involved are doing their best at full capacity, but networking each agency together and talking to each other in a constructive way is the thing,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really coordination, which is exactly what the SJAC is going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
How coordination can help<\/p>\n
Judge Veronica Vasquez, who oversees Bexar County Probate Court 2 and co-founded the Elder Abuse and Exploitation Task Force in 2019 with Texas Sen. Jos\u00e9 Men\u00e9ndez (D-26), echoed the idea that coordination between core team members who handle elder abuse cases is a key issue the SJAC will address.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently there are certain segments of these core team members that do meet, but they don\u2019t all meet at one time on a weekly basis to communicate about these types of cases,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat we found is the best practices in other regions \u2026 is a multidisciplinary team of core members that have to meet on a weekly basis, because otherwise these cases tend to fall through the cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vasquez said that gap shows up most clearly in situations where problems surface across multiple systems but no single agency has the full picture. <\/p>\n
What might look like a routine code-enforcement issue \u2014 an overgrown yard, mounting citations, or a resident who repeatedly misses court dates \u2014 can actually signal cognitive decline, neglect or self-neglect, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may look like they\u2019re not cutting their grass, when the county keeps fineing them, or the city keeps fining them. What does that look like? Well, perhaps that person is experiencing dementia,\u201d she said. \u201cAll of these units that serve seniors need to be talking not just the criminal side when we\u2019re talking about law enforcement, but also the community side.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The grant will also fund two case managers who can work directly with older adults, helping them access services when they decline criminal intervention or lack the capacity to consent. <\/p>\n
Guerrero said Bexar County Commissioners Court must still formally accept the funding, after which the county will finalize contracts with the state and complete memorandums of understanding with partners. Hiring and training will follow, and officials expect the SJAC to begin taking cases once those steps are complete.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you suspect an older adult or adult with a disability is being abused, neglected, or financially exploited call the Adult Protective Services hotline at 1-800-252-5400 or visit the Texas Abuse Hotline website<\/a>. Call 911 in emergencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bexar County officials are moving forward with plans for a multidisciplinary team to address elder abuse and neglect…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":399784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[189443,5229,176879,7288,176882,189444,67591,176884,189445,189446,77790,189447,189448,189449,7202,7203,189450,358,3187,7815,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,189451,189452,7594],"class_list":{"0":"post-399783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-adult-protective-services","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-andrea-guerrero","11":"tag-bexar-county","12":"tag-bexar-county-public-health","13":"tag-bexar-public-health","14":"tag-dr","15":"tag-dr-andrea-guerrero","16":"tag-elder-abuse-and-neglect","17":"tag-elder-neglect","18":"tag-jose-menendez","19":"tag-judge-veronica-vasquez","20":"tag-lisa-centeno","21":"tag-public-safety-committee","22":"tag-san-antonio","23":"tag-sanantonio","24":"tag-senior-justice-assessment-center","25":"tag-texas","26":"tag-tx","27":"tag-typedaily","28":"tag-united-states","29":"tag-united-states-of-america","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","32":"tag-us","33":"tag-usa","34":"tag-veronica-vasquez","35":"tag-victims-of-crime-act","36":"tag-wc-1000-1500"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}