I am writing my opposition to the proposed regulations which would require the Adult Protective Service worker to alert the perpetrator to the results of an APS investigation. I have been an APS worker for the past 26 years with Shenandoah Valley Social Services. I have been involved in many cases where alerting the perpetrator to the report would be detrimental to the client’s welfare.  I have worked on over 3800 APS cases and my assessment is that this regulation would seriously interfere with the ability to provide services to the client. Following is a case example. Our office received a report that an elderly woman was being verbally abused, exploited and neglected by a family member where she lived. When I met with this woman, she was obviously very scared of this family member. She said she wanted to move away from him but was too scared of his retaliation if he knew her desires. I met with this woman several times while she and I determined a plan for her to move to an Assisted Living Facility without the knowledge of the family member. After plans were made, I took a police officer with me to assist her with moving. If the family member had been notified, he would have sabotaged the client’s plans which would have placed her at risk. This family member was not charged with a crime; I only assisted this client, who had capacity, to make choices for herself to move out of an unsafe situation. If this regulation were to move forward, based on my 26 years of experience, this would place my clients at a greater risk of physical, emotional, or verbal abuse as well as exploitation at the hands of the perpetrator.  In order for APS workers to continue to protect and provide services to our vulnerable elderly and disabled clients, please do not pass these regulations. Thank you.