Each year during the month of May, the Administration for Community Living announces the theme for Older Americans Month. The theme for 2025 is “Flip the Script on Aging” which focuses on transforming how society perceives, talks about, and approaches aging. It encourages individuals and communities to challenge stereotypes and dispel misconceptions. Adult Protective Services joins the Administration for Community Living, Texas Health and Human Services Commission, and several local senior network agencies across the state to highlight Older Americans Month (OAM). An estimated 5.9 million people 60 or older live in Texas, according to the Texas Demographic Center. As this number increases, so does the need for older adults to form meaningful relationships and social connections. Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation reminding Texans of the responsibility to care for older adults.

Adults have tremendous power when it comes to protecting children. Of course, we have surely heard of cases where adults have lifted vehicles to protect children or seemed to have inhuman speed to move children out of the path of a disaster. But then there are the less obvious superhero qualities... For example, when adults work together as a community, studies show that we have the superpower of being able to collectively prevent abuse from happening in the first place. But our superpowers shine more brilliantly when we recognize that we individually have great power in positively influencing a child's ability to disclose abuse. This gives us opportunities to stop abuse and influence a child's rate and pace of healing and resilience. What we do as safe adults can actually change the trajectory of a child's wellbeing over their entire lifetime.