What happens when caregivers mishandle or take advantage of their responsibility to provide financial management?
While healthcare workers are paid for their roles, disabled people and people with psychiatric histories are sometimes dependent on caregivers for the management of their limited funds.
This is yet another area where abuse and neglect can surface.
The state is responsible for auditing caregiver oversight of Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This applies particularly when a ‘rep-payee’ has been assigned to receive and manage someone’s funds due to the belief that that person is not able to adequately care for their basic needs if left without that support.
Rep-payees can include individual people such as family members. However, for people living in hospitals or group homes, the responsibility is often assigned to an organization.
Unfortunately, whether assigned to an individual or facility, this is another area where people with psychiatric histories or disabilities also often face abuse and neglect.
For example, a 2021 audit of the Center for Human Development (CHD) found that 87% of the representative payeeships for which they were responsible were flagged for problems and that the complaints process connected to it failed to even investigate a sizable number of complaints.
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This article is a part of the Spotlight on the Workplace Violence bill.
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