If someone is being hurt right now
Call 911.
Otherwise: Adult Protective Services — reach yours by dialling 211
For a child, contact Child Protective Services. Reporting is free, usually anonymous, and retaliation for reporting is itself prohibited.
Crisis support: call or text 988. Veterans press 1.
The rights every resident has
These apply in every home, and they are not conditional on behaviour, payment, or programme participation. A provider who treats them as privileges to be earned has misunderstood the law.
Dignity and privacy
To be treated with respect. Privacy in your room, your mail, your phone calls, and your person.
Your own space and things
To keep and use personal property. To have visitors. To come and go, restricted only by what is written in your own service plan.
Freedom from restraint
To be free from physical, chemical and mechanical restraint used for discipline or staff convenience.
Freedom from abuse
To be free from abuse, neglect, exploitation — and from retaliation, including for complaining.
A say in your own care
To take part in your service planning. To refuse treatment, and to be told plainly what refusing means for you.
To complain
To raise a grievance without fear, get an answer within a stated time, and go to the state directly at any point.
Your records
To see your own record, get a copy, and ask for corrections.
Your money
To manage your own funds, to a personal needs allowance, and to an accounting of anything the home holds for you.
How to report abuse or neglect
- Immediate danger — call 911. Everything else comes after safety.
- Adult Protective Services (or Child Protective Services for a minor). Dial 211 to reach yours. They investigate abuse, neglect and exploitation of vulnerable people.
- Your state's Long-Term Care Ombudsman. Free, independent of any provider, and specifically there to advocate for residents. Find yours.
- The state licensing agency. They can inspect, cite, and sanction. Ours are listed on the resources page.
- Protection & Advocacy. Every state has one, with federal authority to investigate abuse of people with disabilities. Free legal help. Find yours.
You can usually report anonymously, and retaliation against someone who reports is prohibited. If a provider responds to a complaint by threatening discharge, that itself is reportable — and it is the clearest sign the complaint was justified.
Write down what you saw, with dates. Contemporaneous notes carry real weight in an investigation. Memory reconstructed months later does not.
What to do about a discharge or eviction notice
This is where residents have the most protection and know it least, so read this before you need it.
An involuntary discharge normally requires:
- At least 30 days written notice
- The reason stated, from a narrow list of permitted reasons
- Where the person is going — "unknown" is not a destination
- The Long-Term Care Ombudsman's contact details on the notice itself
- A clear statement of the right to appeal
An appeal filed before the discharge date generally stays the discharge. The person stays, and their care continues unchanged, until it is decided.
Contact the Ombudsman the day the notice arrives. Appeal windows are short, and the protection only works if it is used in time.
"We can no longer meet their needs" is a permitted reason. "They complained" is not, and neither is "we would prefer someone easier". If the timing of a notice follows a complaint, say so to the Ombudsman.
Money and personal funds
A home may collect an agreed room and board contribution — usually a portion of SSI or SSDI. It may not:
- Mix resident money with the home's operating money
- Spend resident funds without authorisation
- Withhold the personal needs allowance
- Refuse an accounting of funds it holds on someone's behalf
Commingling resident funds with operating money is one of the most common and most serious findings against providers. Ask to see the ledger. A home that keeps this properly will not mind being asked.
Privacy and your records
You have the right to see your own record, get a copy, ask for corrections, and know who it has been shared with. Using those rights must never affect the care you receive.
You can complain directly to the HHS Office for Civil Rights at hhs.gov/ocr/complaints. You do not need the provider's permission and you do not have to tell them first.
Records about substance use treatment carry stronger protection than ordinary health information, under 42 CFR Part 2 and, for veterans, 38 U.S.C. §7332. A general medical release does not cover them — consent must name the recipient specifically.
Non-discrimination
Mai Heaven does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion, age, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital or family status, disability, medical condition, source of payment, or veteran status — in admissions, services, or any part of how someone is treated in our care. Reasonable accommodations are provided for people with disabilities.
If you believe you were discriminated against, you can file a complaint with the HHS Office for Civil Rights at hhs.gov/ocr/complaints — you do not need our permission, and retaliation for filing is prohibited.
Holding us to the same standard
Everything on this page applies to Mai Heaven when we operate.We publish it now, because a provider who only tells you your rights once you are already living there has the incentive backwards.
Common questions about supported homes →
Who to call today →
We will publish our licence and inspection reports
Every provider should. If you want to see ours when they exist — and hold us to what is on this page — leave an email.
One email when a home opens near you, and nothing else. No newsletter, no sharing your address with anyone. Need a placement right now? Please use these instead.