Report Abuse
Free Consultation
Free Consultation
855-880-4500
Key Takeaways
You report suspected elder abuse in California by calling the agency that oversees where your loved one lives. That single choice matters, because a report sent to the wrong office can stall while the harm continues. Bruises, unexplained bank withdrawals, and a caregiver who will not leave the room are all reasons to act rather than wait.
At The Elder Justice Firm, we represent families whose parents and grandparents were harmed in nursing homes, assisted living communities, and other care settings. A report that includes dates, names, and specific observations gives investigators more to work with. If something you saw does not sit right, our team can review what happened and explain the options available to you.
State law draws its lines by age and by capacity. An elder is any person residing in the state who is 65 or older, under Welfare and Institutions Code section 15610.27. Dependent adults are people between 18 and 64 whose physical or mental limitations restrict their ability to carry out normal activities.
Adult Protective Services reaches a little further. The California Department of Social Services directs county Adult Protective Services programs to serve adults 60 and older as well as dependent adults. A 62-year-old recovering from a stroke therefore qualifies, even though criminal statutes set the elder threshold at 65.
Abuse covers far more than a physical injury. Section 15610.07 of the Welfare and Institutions Code recognizes several forms of harm:
Mental suffering counts too, so a resident who is threatened or humiliated has grounds for a report.
The setting decides the phone number. Reports about someone living at home go to a county agency, while reports about a licensed facility go to a state regulator or an ombudsman. Calling the right office first keeps the file from bouncing between departments.
Adult Protective Services investigates abuse that happens outside licensed facilities, including private homes, apartments, and hotels. Every county operates its own program, and the statewide line at 1-833-401-0832 routes your call by ZIP code. Someone answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Social workers can arrange emergency shelter, medical care, or a home visit. They cannot force services on an adult who has capacity and declines them.
Licensed facilities answer to different regulators. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program handles complaints from residents of any age, keeps every complaint confidential, and staffs a CRISISline at 1-800-231-4024 around the clock.
Skilled nursing facilities fall under the California Department of Public Health, which takes health facility complaints at 1-800-228-1019. Assisted living communities, formally called residential care facilities for older people, fall under Community Care Licensing at 1-844-538-8766. That office keeps your name anonymous unless you permit it to share it.
Some situations need police before paperwork. Call 911 when you find a serious injury, a weapon, sexual assault, or an immediate threat to someone's safety. Local police and the county district attorney can open a criminal file while an agency investigation runs in parallel.
Financial crimes inside a care facility have their own channel. The Attorney General's Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse takes those reports at 1-800-722-0432.
You do not need certainty to make a call. Reasonable suspicion is the standard, and investigators would rather review a report that turns out fine. A few steps keep your report useful:
Keeping your own copy of the report matters, because agency records can take weeks to obtain.
If you already made a report and nothing changed, that silence is worth a second look. Call The Elder Justice Firm at (855) 880-4500, and we will walk through what the agency did with your file.
Some people have no choice about calling. Welfare and Institutions Code section 15630 makes care custodians, health practitioners, facility administrators, clergy, social workers, and financial institution employees mandated reporters. The duty attaches when they observe abuse, learn of it, or reasonably suspect it at work.
Timing is strict. A mandated reporter must telephone the appropriate agency immediately, or as soon as practically possible, then send a written report on form SOC 341 within 2 working days. Employees of financial institutions use form SOC 342 instead.
Skipping the call carries consequences. A failure to report can bring up to 6 months in county jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. Where the abuse causes death or great bodily injury, that rises to 1 year in county jail, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.
Everyone else may report voluntarily, and state guidance from the Attorney General's office encourages it. A person who reports suspected abuse is protected from both criminal and civil liability.
A report starts a clock, not a conversation. Adult Protective Services assigns a social worker who visits and assesses whether the adult is safe. Facility complaints follow a schedule written into statute.
Health and Safety Code section 1420 and licensing rules set several deadlines once a complaint reaches a regulator:
Those deadlines belong to the agency, so a delay in your case is worth a written follow-up.
Anonymity is possible at every door. Community Care Licensing withholds your name unless you consent, and health facility investigators keep complainant identities confidential from the facility. Anonymous reports are harder to substantiate, though, because investigators cannot call you back for details.
An agency investigation and a civil claim are separate tracks. A citation from a regulator does not compensate a family for a pressure ulcer, a broken hip, or a drained bank account. At The Elder Justice Firm, we treat those findings as evidence for a civil claim rather than the end of the matter.
Prosecutors, not families, decide whether to file criminal charges. Penal Code section 368 applies when a person knows the individual is an elder and willfully causes or permits unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering.
The offense can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony. That case proceeds separately from anything a family pursues in civil court, and a conviction is not required before a civil claim moves forward.
The Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act gives families their own remedy. Under Welfare and Institutions Code section 15657, a plaintiff must prove physical abuse, neglect, or abandonment by clear and convincing evidence. That same standard applies to showing recklessness, oppression, fraud, or malice.
When both are established, the court shall award reasonable attorney's fees and costs on top of the underlying damages.
Deadlines apply. Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 allows 2 years to file a claim for injury or death caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. Staffing records, wound photographs, and medication logs can disappear long before that deadline, so we ask families to preserve what they have.
Families ask these questions most often once they decide to make a report.
Yes. Community Care Licensing keeps your name anonymous unless you give permission to share it, and other agencies keep complainant identities confidential from the facility.
No. Reasonable suspicion is enough, and social workers gather the evidence during their own investigation.
Adults with capacity can decline services, and the agency will respect that choice. A refusal sometimes reflects fear of retaliation rather than a lack of need.
Community Care Licensing oversees residential care facilities for older people, while the Department of Public Health oversees skilled nursing facilities. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman accepts complaints about both.
A person who reports suspected abuse is protected from criminal and civil liability. That protection is why state agencies encourage reporting rather than waiting for certainty.
Failing to report can bring up to 6 months in county jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. Those figures rise when the abuse causes death or great bodily injury.
If you filed a complaint and the 10-working-day inspection deadline came and went without a word, that silence is not the end of the matter.
We built our practice around abuse and neglect in nursing homes, assisted living communities, and other care settings across the state. Our recoveries include a $33.1 million verdict and more than $200 million for families overall. Those results reflect past cases and do not predict what any new case will bring.
Our attorneys request staffing sheets, wound care records, and incident reports, then bring in medical experts to read them. We handle these matters on a contingency fee basis and explain those terms before you sign anything. Every case begins with a free case evaluation.
Call us at (855) 880-4500 or reach our California team through our contact page to talk about what you reported and what should happen next.
Rob Marcereau founded The Elder Justice Firm on a single conviction: Seniors deserve a lawyer who prepares every case for trial.
He is an award-winning trial attorney, licensed in California since 2000, who has built his practice around institutions that harm the people in their care. Nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and their insurers arrive with defense counsel already retained and a strategy already in motion. Families arrive with grief, a stack of medical records they cannot read, and a facility that has stopped returning calls.
Closing that gap is the reason this firm exists. To speak with a California elder abuse attorney about what happened to someone you love, call The Elder Justice Firm at 855-880-4500.
Learn MoreTake The First Step
"*" indicates required fields
Quick Links
