Adult Protective Services in West Virginia: Reporting and Response

If you suspect an older or disabled adult in West Virginia is being abused, neglected, or financially exploited, call Adult Protective Services in West Virginia at 1-800-352-6513. The hotline runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is operated by the Bureau for Social Services’ Centralized Intake unit. State law requires reports to be made immediately, and no later than 48 hours after you first suspect harm.¹

Who APS Can Help

APS protects “vulnerable adults.” Under West Virginia Code, that means anyone over 18 (or an emancipated minor) who, because of a physical or mental condition, cannot independently carry out the daily activities needed to sustain life and reasonable health.² The definition is broad on purpose. It covers people with dementia, serious physical disabilities, developmental conditions, and other impairments that leave them dependent on others. Someone physically healthy but cognitively impaired can qualify, and so can someone mentally sharp but physically unable to manage daily life alone.

What APS Investigates

State law breaks the harm APS responds to into four categories, and knowing which one fits your concern helps the intake worker route the case.

Abuse is the infliction or threat of physical or psychological harm, including undue influence or imprisonment.²
Neglect covers a caregiver’s unreasonable failure to provide necessary care. It also includes self-neglect, when the adult’s own inability to care for themselves creates the danger, and cases where someone uses undue influence to cause that self-neglect.²
Financial exploitation is the intentional misappropriation or misuse of a vulnerable adult’s money or property, including using undue influence to cause that misuse. A good-faith effort to help someone manage finances does not count.²
Emergency situation means circumstances presenting a substantial and immediate risk of death or serious injury.²

Financial exploitation reports often lead to coordination with law enforcement and the county prosecuting attorney. Neglect cases more often lead to home-based services like meal delivery or home health visits.

How to Make a Report

Call 1-800-352-6513. When you do, share as much of the following as you can:

The adult’s name, age or date of birth, and current address
Names of caregivers, family members, or others involved in the suspected harm
What you have actually seen — unexplained injuries, sudden weight loss, confusion about missing money, unsanitary living conditions
How often you have noticed these signs and whether they appear to be getting worse

You do not need every detail before you call. Intake workers are trained to ask follow-up questions, and waiting until you have a complete picture can cost someone days of continued harm. If the concern involves a nursing home or residential facility, a copy of the report is also sent to the state or regional long-term care ombudsman and the facility’s administrator.¹

Who Is Required to Report

West Virginia law makes certain professionals mandatory reporters any time they have reasonable cause to suspect a vulnerable adult is being harmed. The list includes medical, dental, and mental health professionals, social service workers, law enforcement officers, humane officers, employees of nursing homes and residential facilities, and Christian Science practitioners and religious healers.³

Financial institutions and their employees have a separate pathway: they are permitted to report suspected financial exploitation to law enforcement, the county prosecuting attorney, or APS. Public officers and employees are required to report financial exploitation through the same channels.⁴

Anyone else can report too. The statute explicitly allows any member of the public to contact APS, and nothing prevents a vulnerable adult from reporting on their own behalf.³

Penalty for Not Reporting

A mandatory reporter who knowingly fails to file a required report, or who knowingly prevents someone else from making one, commits a misdemeanor. A conviction can result in a fine of up to $100, up to ten days in county jail, or both.⁵ For a licensed nurse, social worker, or officer, the professional consequences of that misdemeanor often matter more than the fine.

Immunity for Good-Faith Reporters

Anyone who reports in good faith is immune from civil or criminal liability that might otherwise arise from reporting, and that protection extends to participation in the investigation or testimony in related proceedings.⁶ Fabricated allegations made to harass someone would not be covered.

What Happens After You Call

Centralized Intake assigns a response time based on how dangerous the situation looks:

Emergency: a caseworker must begin investigating within two hours.
Potential emergency: contact must happen within 72 hours.
Non-emergency: the caseworker has up to 14 calendar days to initiate the investigation.

These are internal Bureau for Social Services standards rather than deadlines written into the code. In practice, the emergency timeline means a caseworker is at the door the same day.

Investigations start with a face-to-face visit to assess the adult’s living conditions, physical health, and mental state. Caseworkers look at the home environment, speak with the adult privately when possible, and may interview neighbors, caregivers, and family members. When evidence points to a crime — physical battery, theft of retirement funds, forged checks — APS coordinates with local law enforcement and the county prosecuting attorney.¹

Mandatory reporters are entitled to be told whether an investigation was opened and when it closed.⁴ Family members, neighbors, and other members of the public generally will not receive status updates because of privacy protections.

What APS Can Actually Do

When an investigation confirms harm, APS builds a case plan around the adult’s situation. Much of the work is practical: arranging home-delivered meals, setting up home health visits, coordinating transportation to medical appointments, or connecting the adult with senior centers and other community resources. Keeping people in their own homes when it is safe to do so is the default; routing everyone into a facility is not the goal.

When stronger measures are needed, APS can go to court. Financial exploitation cases may lead to freezing the adult’s accounts to prevent further theft, or filing a financial exploitation action under the state court rules governing those proceedings.⁷ In physical-danger cases, the department can seek emergency orders to remove the person causing harm from the home. APS can also refer a case for guardianship proceedings when the adult cannot make safe decisions and no less restrictive option will work.

Monitoring often continues after the immediate crisis passes. APS may keep a case open to confirm that services are being delivered and that the harm is not resuming.

When the Adult Refuses Help

The investigation itself is not voluntary. Once a report comes in, caseworkers will investigate whether or not the adult wants them to. Ongoing case management services, however, require the adult’s consent.⁸

That consent requirement has limits. If an adult is in an emergency situation, meets the vulnerable adult definition, and is unwilling to be removed from danger, the caseworker can pursue legal action to intervene without consent. If an adult refuses to let a caseworker inside for the initial face-to-face assessment, law enforcement may be contacted and court intervention may follow.⁸

A competent adult who understands the risks and chooses to live in conditions others find alarming has the right to make that choice. When cognitive impairment prevents a true evaluation of danger, the state has tools to step in over the person’s objection. Much of a caseworker’s job sits between those two situations, trying to build enough trust to secure voluntary cooperation before turning to court orders.

Reports Involving Nursing Homes and Facilities

Vulnerable adults living in nursing homes, assisted living, and other residential care have an added layer of protection through the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, a federally mandated program authorized by the Older Americans Act.⁹

When a report involves a facility resident, a copy goes to the regional long-term care ombudsman along with APS. The ombudsman can advocate for the resident, push for changes in facility practices, and represent the resident’s interests in administrative or legal proceedings. The statute also adds one procedural requirement: the department must immediately begin an investigation when the report involves a facility, so these cases get escalated faster than a non-emergency report about someone living independently.¹

1
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 9-6-11 – Reports
2
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 9-6-1 – Definitions
3
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 9-6-9 – Mandatory Reporting of Incidences of Abuse, Neglect, Financial Exploitation, or Emergency Situation
4
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 9-6-9 – Mandatory Reporting
5
Justia Law. West Virginia Code 9-6-14 – Failure to Report; Penalty
6
West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Social Services Adult Protective Services Policy Chapter 12
7
West Virginia Judiciary. Rules of Practice and Procedure for Financial Exploitation
8
Bureau for Social Services. Adult Protective Services Policy July 2025
9
Administration for Community Living. Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program