Adult Protective Services (APS) is the social service system charged with aiding older people and disabled adults who are being mistreated by others or cannot meet their own basic needs for health and safety (self-neglect). These are America's most vulnerable citizens, and they often suffer for years, while remaining largely invisible to the greater world.Written from the inside of APS, Mark Mehler's memoir of his seven years as a crisis case manager reveals a world that very few people see, and addresses why and how people do this work, what they take away from it and the price that they pay to do it.Ranging from horrifying to uplifting and bizarrely funny, the stories recounted here witness human frailty and disaster, and the efforts of some dedicated caseworkers to stem that tide.

Table of ContentsForeword by Kathleen QuinnIntroduction: Happiness Is No Gun¿1.¿Welcome to Countertransference¿2.¿Orphan in the Storm¿3.¿Hidden Figures¿4.¿Damned If You Do....¿5.¿...And Damned If You Don't¿6.¿A Crisis Manager Walks into a Bar...¿7.¿APS Versus APS¿8.¿In Harm's Way¿9.¿That Guy Who Looks Like Felix10.¿The Two Faces of Esther11.¿If I Had a Rich Man12.¿Naked Came the Stranger13.¿Rules of Engagement14.¿How Do You Solve a Problem Like Tobias?15.¿Tender Mercies16.¿WORST. CLIENT. EVER.17.¿Both Sides Now18.¿Thwarting the Gypsies19.¿Wretched Refuse20.¿Sons and Mothers21.¿Smoothing Over the Humiliation22.¿Who's That Hogging My Bathroom?23.¿Celebrity Jeopardy24.¿Tuesday in the Court with George25.¿Terms of Endearment, or Disparagement26.¿Nothing to It27.¿Senior Lifesaving; Or, Hello, I Must Be Going28.¿The Supporting Cast29.¿Scammer's Delight30.¿How'd I Get Here?31.¿Change Is Gonna Come32.¿Officious Channels33.¿Journey's EndEpilogue: A ProclamationIndex