A new report released on April 21st, 2011 by the California Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes shows that California is falling extremely short when it comes to protecting its elderly citizens from in-home care givers who have criminal histories. The title of the report pretty much says it all: ”Caregiver Roulette: California Fails to Screen those who Care for the Elderly at Home.”
California is one of the few states which does not regulate in-home care agencies and this is of utmost importance as more and more people entering the elder stage of their lives are seeking alternatives to being placed in a nursing home or other such institution. The trend is largely becoming in-home care.
The report found that over a quarter of in-home caregivers who were convicted of crimes against the people they were supposed to be looking after had previous convictions of a similar nature. Furthermore, while many agencies claim to background check their employees the background checks range from unreliable databases to full background checks which are limited by California’s limited reporting law (the law states only convictions within a 7-year scope can be reported).
Did you know that California residents who are hiring in-home care have a right to request a background check from the Department of Justice? We’re not surprised if you answered no. The Senate report noted that in the first three months of 2011 not one background check for this purpose was requested from the Department of Justice.
From legitimate in-home care business to individuals advertising their services on Craigslist, it seems that California should make regulating this industry a priority as soon as possible. Due to the lack of regulation, the state has no idea how many people are acting as in-home caregivers, let alone how many of those have criminal convictions and are preying on the people in their care. The Senate report has multiple examples of people with criminal records who have gone on to repeat their behavior and harm the elderly.
Some potentially good news is coming out of this report. One of the recommendations it makes is for California to allow consumer reporting agencies (the legal term for employment screening companies) to report convictions older than seven years, at least for caregiver positions. Among other recommendations, they would also like to see a registry developed wherein a caregiver could have a background check run on themself in order to be listed in the directory. The registry could also include those caregivers with criminal convictions.
After reviewing the statistics in the Senate’s report, it seems obvious that there is a need in California for some regulation to protect our elderly. You can view the report here.
