(320 ILCS 20/3) (from Ch. 23, par. 6603)
Sec. 3. Responsibilities.
(a) The Department shall establish,
design and manage a program of response and services for persons 60 years
of age and
older who have been, or are alleged to be, victims of abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect. The Department
shall contract with or fund or, contract with and fund, regional
administrative
agencies, provider
agencies, or both, for the provision of those
functions, and, contingent on adequate funding, with attorneys or legal
services provider agencies for the
provision of legal assistance pursuant to this Act. The program shall include the following services for eligible adults who have been removed from their residences for the purpose of cleanup or repairs: temporary housing; counseling; and caseworker services to try to ensure that the conditions necessitating the removal do not reoccur.
(b) Each regional administrative agency shall designate provider
agencies within its planning and service area with prior approval by the
Department on Aging, monitor the use of services, provide technical
assistance to the provider agencies and be involved in program development
activities.
(c) Provider agencies shall assist, to the extent possible, eligible
adults who need agency
services to allow them to continue to function independently. Such
assistance shall include but not be limited to receiving reports of alleged
or suspected abuse, neglect, financial exploitation,
or self-neglect, conducting face-to-face assessments of
such reported cases, determination of substantiated cases, referral of
substantiated cases for necessary support services,
referral of criminal conduct to law enforcement in accordance with Department
guidelines,
and provision of case
work and follow-up services on substantiated cases. In the case of a report of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect that places an eligible adult at risk of injury or death, a provider agency shall respond to the report on an emergency basis in accordance with guidelines established by the Department by administrative rule and shall ensure that it is capable of responding to such a report 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. A provider agency may use an on-call system to respond to reports of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect after hours and on weekends.
(d) Upon sufficient appropriations to implement a statewide program, the Department shall implement a program, based on the recommendations of the Elder Self-Neglect Steering Committee, for (i) responding to reports of possible self-neglect, (ii) protecting the autonomy, rights, privacy, and privileges of adults during investigations of possible self-neglect and consequential judicial proceedings regarding competency, (iii) collecting and sharing relevant information and data among the Department, provider agencies, regional administrative agencies, and relevant seniors, (iv) developing working agreements between provider agencies and law enforcement, where practicable, and (v) developing procedures for collecting data regarding incidents of self-neglect.
(Source: P.A. 95-76, eff. 6-1-08; 96-526, eff. 1-1-10; 96-572, eff. 1-1-10; 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)
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