Monday, October 12, 2009

SC Supreme Court Orders Creation of Elder Task Force

The S.C. Supreme Court has issued an order mandating the creation of a task force to study elder issues in the state’s courts.

The task force will examine issues related to elder abuse, adult guardianships and conservatorship. It will then make recommendations to the Supreme Court to aid in its responses.

The task force is charged with the following:
■Collecting data to aid in determining needs, promoting beneficial outcomes and fostering overall system accountability.

■Fostering training and education for judges, court personnel, attorneys, court-appointed guardians, guardians ad litem, conservators, mediators, law enforcement and others on matters affecting the elderly, such as dementia, financial exploitation, physical abuse and neglect.

■Recommending changes in court structure, laws, regulations or rules in order to protect the legal rights of the elderly, promote process fairness and facilitate the economic use of available resources.

■Reporting the status of its work to the Supreme Court and other interested parties by July 1.

Full Article and Source:
Supreme Court Orders Creation of Elder Task Force

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I looked at the membership of the elder task force and didn't see an advocate for guardianship victims.

Norma said...

You're right, Anon, those representing guardianship victims on this task force will be probate judges.

Ha.

Hopefully, it will help some other form of elder abuse, but as far as guardianship, it's a waste.

Anonymous said...

This, unfortunately, is another one of those feel good task forces.

They create these to give the impression that they realize there's a problem and they want to change it.

What they really want is to instill the false feeling in the public that they do care and that things are going to change.

Anonymous said...

I agree, at first it sounds good. But if the very people who enable the abuse are supposed to be the experts here, then the SC elderly have nothing to look forward to here.