I have nothing to hide, but I also don't have all the receipts. Part of me says comply the other says not to. My dad likes to play the victim, not to get anyone in trouble just for the attention. Now I am being investigated/interrogated and I don't have proof. Does anyone know what's best?
How did APS get involved in the first place? Do you live with your father or is he in a care facility? Did you dad call them?
We need more information to be able to give better suggestions.
If you did nothing wrong, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. I believe they are good at telling when people are lying or if anything is fishy. So don't lie be honest. Most people don't save receipts.
Best of luck.
If you are POA and have been spending your father's funds for his care, did you not understand that you needed meticulous records?
You will need to comply and I would do this as graciously and as thoroughly as you are able. If you did not know that you needed records of expenditures then be honest with those investigating. You may be facing charges of elder fraud and abuse and this is not to be taken lightly. If you have acted wrongly in innocence or ignorance of the requirements, then be honest about this with those investigating. Provide everything you possibly can in writing as to what you spent, on what you spent it, and when and why.
APS may have been told that you have been exploiting him financially (or it may be something they always check), but they may also be getting very confusing stories about what’s best for him medically. If F actually wants to come home, it would be good to tell him that all this is likely to stop you taking him, and he should be clear and honest.
When you are spending someone elses money, you keep records. My Moms bank statement showed the money going in and the money going out. TG, for a fee, our bank had pictures of the checks.
So, if you are dependent on his income to pay the bills and have a roof over your head, you are going to need to start to make changes. It may be that Dad's best place for him to be is in a nursing home, and his care will be beyond what you can handle.
As far as APS, just tell them the money went to living expenses. The worst that would happen is they may send a referral to the state's attorney's office, then it would be up to them to see if they want to bring charges. They likely won't unless significant money(tens of thousands) was stolen. But if you were dependent on dad's income to survive, that will end, because they won't allow you to live with him anymore.
More likely it's a fishing expedition to see what financial information they can find out without actually getting subpoenas for a person's financial information. That is what these people do. If there's an elder who doesn't have "services" through a homecare agency and there is no case file with social services because they aren't getting anything paid from the state, no one knows what assets grandpa has.
Social Services used to get up in my mother's business. They go on fishing expeditions when old people have no registered services. They call and promise of all kinds of "free" stuff. Nothing is free if you own anything. Or if you want to remain in charge of your own life when you're old. She has all the help she needs and is well cared for. Social Services actually came to her house. When they get nowhere, they send for APS. They're very nice. Her aide knew to call me immediately on videochat. I held up the POA documents and told this person if they ever come to the house again they'd better have a warrant from a judge to be there. If they don't and just "want to talk" the aides are instructed to call me and the police. I made it easy for this person and told her there was no need for her to get excited over possible assets because aren't any. I own the property my parent lives in so she needs to go fish elsewhere.
They never came back. They phone solicit from time to time and brochures from homecare agencies and care facilities come in the mail regularly, but no visits from APS or social services.
Unless your father has been declared (by a doctor) mentally incompetent and unable to make his own decisions, none of you including your father, owe anyone an explanation for anything.
Many times healthcare and social work "professionals" will use intimidation tactics on a family when really they don't have a legal leg to stand on. This would be because many of these people receive incentives to get a person placed in a certain facility or rehab or to get the signed up with certain homecare agencies that are affliated to them in some way or other.
Unless you are a court-appointed POA or conservator for your father, you don't owe APS a damn thing and you don't answer to them. I had a couple of dealings with APS once on a private-duty care case I was working and once when the nursing home my parent was in was demanding I hand over POA to them. Both times they were told to get a warrant. I wasn't doing anything wrong and neither are you.
You don't owe them receipts or bank statements. You don't have to keep records of what got paid and to whom. You owe them nothing. So give them nothing. You are not your father's legal representative. Even if you were, you would be answering to the probate court, not APS.
These people are just shaking the tree to see what falls out of it. Don't give into them. You are under no legal obligation to answer to these people. If they shake it too hard, petition the court for a restraining order against this harassment.
Get yourself to a lawyer though. First meetings are usually free. You do not owe APS an explanation for your father's finances and neither does he. If a sheriff serves you with papers to appear in court, then you MAY have to answer some questions. You do not have to now.
Also, if your father is not in a care facility, has no immediate plans to get put in one, and no one's looking to get him on Medicaid - no one will have to offer any explanations.
My guess here is your father probably ran his mouth in the hospital about you stealing from him and played the victim as you said to get attention and now it's rolled back on him and everyone else.
I wouldn't worry if I were you. Not unless you get a court summons.
Talk to a lawyer though. For your own peace of mind.
If the court appoints a conservator/guardian and financial POA over your father, let them. That's not on you.
Discovering the cause is of paramount importance.
Severe heart or lung disease, kidney disease, cancer.
Following up on an outpatient basis can still be done.
So, in other words you went against the better judgment of the physician listening to your dad.
Where did the accusations of the financial abuse come from?
Did your father say your were exploiting him? If so, time to turn the reins over to someone else. It's hard enough to do all this work but then to be falsely accused of wrong doing? No thanks.