In response to the ongoing opioid crisis, ACL recently awarded a total of $1.7 million in two-year state APS enhancement grants to Montana and Nevada. The state APS systems will use the demonstration grants to innovate and enhance practices, services, data collection, and reporting in order to better serve and assist clients impacted by the opioid crisis.
Montana's APS program will improve data and information gathering processes, utilizing a tracking system to document and better understand opioid misuse by alleged victims and alleged perpetrators. Montana will partner with Purdue University, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and other key Montana stakeholders and will report opioid-related data to ACL's National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System (NAMRS).
Nevada's APS program will educate staff and the community on opioid misuse and available services, expand NAMRS data collection, and demonstrate APS outcome measures related to opioid misuse. The project will include developing a screening tool and improving the process of referring clients to opioid misuse services. Nevada APS will partner with the University of Nevada-Reno’s Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) and key stakeholders.
State APS systems investigate reports of abuse and exploitation of older adults and people with disabilities. They provide support and case-management, and connect people facing abuse to a variety of protective, emergency, and support services.