On September 15, 2025, UPE met with the County about the revised On-Call P&P for APS (Adult Protective Services). Upon reading the revised policy, there was not too much that your UPE team requested to either be removed or the language be reworded.
The policy stated that the on-call SW must be able to respond in person to the office within sixty (60) minutes. UPE wanted to know why an on-call SW would need to respond to the office. The department’s reasoning was that the SW might need to pick up something or go to a hospital. We requested that this either be removed or new language be presented.
Next, there was a section about the on-call SW maintaining resource information. UPE requested the department to clarify what that means. The response from the department was that this should read the same as the old policy, in that the on-call SW will have the information accessible.
There was a section about the on-call SW taking a County vehicle, whenever possible, when responding; UPE asked about home retention. This was shot down, citing the County Vehicle Use policy. We reminded the County that the policy to which they are referring does not state that home retention is not possible.
Lastly, we covered the section regarding signing up for on-call shifts. The policy states that the shifts will be “assigned.” UPE requested that the section be removed since SWs sign up for on-call shifts.
The department said it will consider UPE’s requests and send over a revised policy for review prior to publication.
Thank you for your advocacy, Sarah Singleton and Deanna Green
