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320 ILCS 20/4 - Adult Protective Services Act, Reports of abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect

IllinoisstatuteIllinois Department on Aging (Adult Protective Services Program)

What this rule requires your agency to do

  • 1The provider must make the required report within 24 hours after developing the belief that abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation has occurred. (320 ILCS 20/4)(320 ILCS 20/4 - Adult Protective Services Act, Reports of abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect)
  • 2The agency/Department must keep confidential the identity of the person making a report and disclose it only with that person's written consent or by court order. (320 ILCS 20/4)(320 ILCS 20/4 - Adult Protective Services Act, Reports of abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect)
  • 3The provider (mandated reporter, including a professional or delegate engaged in home health care, home personal care, or social services) must report a suspected instance of abuse, abandonment, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect of an eligible adult to an agency designated to receive such reports or to the Department on Aging. (320 ILCS 20/4(a))(320 ILCS 20/4 - Adult Protective Services Act, Reports of abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect)
  • 4A mandated reporter (other than physicians, dentists, dental hygienists, and optometrists, who face professional discipline) who willfully fails to report as required is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. (320 ILCS 20/4)(320 ILCS 20/4 - Adult Protective Services Act, Reports of abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect)

Applies to: Personal care / home care and home health workers who serve eligible adults (60+ or adults with disabilities age 18-59) in domestic/community settings; such workers are mandated reporters under the Act

Illinois' Adult Protective Services Act requires designated mandated reporters - including professionals and their delegates engaged in home health care, home personal care, and social services to eligible adults - to report suspected abuse, abandonment, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect to a designated APS agency or the Department on Aging within 24 hours. Reporters acting in the victim's best interest are granted civil, criminal, and disciplinary immunity, the reporter's identity is confidential, and willful failure to report is a Class A misdemeanor.

Regulatory information, not legal advice — always confirm against the cited official source. Verification reduces error; it does not certify compliance.