A family member in another city reports overhearing ongoing elder abuse in a nearby dwelling. There are complicated tenant issues involved that I will not go into..... Also involved are alcohol and drugs.
The situation involves daytime home-care by a live-in common-law "spouse" of the working common-law "spouse's" aged and infirm parent.
As far as the nature of the abuse-- what is known so far: There certainly has been prolonged verbal abuse. The aged parent's belongings have been trashed from time to time, and then cleaned up before the parent's adult child got home from work. Whether physical abuse has occurred (yet) is not yet clear. It seems to be happening more often and more loudly-- all the usual earmarks of escalation toward physical abuse.
The adult child of this abused elder is also in a fairly advanced state of denial about the insufficiency and abusive nature of the caregiving, the motives of the "self-employed" live-in (AKA moocher), and the danger to the parent ("Our whole family are screamers so this is no big deal.") However, city street workers recently heard a daytime meltdown severe enough to result in the cops coming for a little look-see. Since the adult child was out of town at the time s/he probably knows nothing about THAT.
My family member is planning to advise this friend that it would be a good idea to hear what the cops have to say about it before leaving the parent in the live-in's care any further, and to call 911 next time s/he overhears it breaking out again.
So what I want to know is-- What experience (if any) have any of you had with reporting and results in your state? How "bad" did the abuse have to be before anything was done about it? (Other than nursing homes, etc.)