National Adult Protective Services (NAPSA) honored Deborah Holt-Knight with the 2012 President’s Award. At the presentation ceremony held in Buffalo, NY, on September 22, 2011 at the annual NAPSA conference, hundreds of attendees from around the country were informed of Deborah’s enormously impressive talents and applauded her outstanding accomplishments. As stated in the ceremony’s announcement: “Deborah has been the heartbeat of NYC APS for 26 years. Her knowledge, judgment and vision are unsurpassed. Her systems innovations and corrections are too numerous to mention. Her ability to tackle complex issues is hailed by those inside and outside of APS as extraordinary. Deborah is the ultimate “go to” person in NYC APS.”

Bio: Deborah Holt-Knight has devoted her career to providing services to vulnerable adults. She has been on the Adult Protective Services team for 25 years. She began her service in 1985 as a caseworker and has held various positions during her tenure. As a caseworker, she assessed clients for eligibility, investigated allegations of abuse, interacted with law enforcement and testified in court hearings. This position inspired her passion and advocacy for protecting at risk adults, specifically in the area of elder abuse. Later in her tenure she held many administrative positions. She is currently the Director of Client Services and is responsible for the citywide operations of NYC’s Adult Protective Services. In this capacity, she is developing policy and procedures, training and community outreach. She works closely with elder abuse prosecutors, law enforcement and recently provided the first APS citywide training at the police academy. She is committed to staff development to insure that victims of elder abuse are receiving optimum intervention. She is also a member of the NYC Elder Abuse Center’s Brooklyn MDT. Over the years she has served as a panelist for various conferences addressing elder abuse.  She has a BA degree in Psychology from Hunter College and has successfully completed the Hunter College School of Social Work post-graduate certificate program. She is committed to providing optimum service to vulnerable adults.