With scarred minds and unwilling bodies, 1,400 "wards" live in nursing homes, houses and hospitals in Stark County.
They're called wards for short, as in wards of the court. They're people, often senior citizens, who can no longer make good decisions for themselves. They've been declared legally incompetent in probate court. A guardian has been appointed for each to handle his or her affairs.
Most wound up in the care of Trillium Family Solutions, a local nonprofit agency that charges fees to wards and nursing homes for its professional guardianship services.
Stark County Probate Judge Dixie Park said "There were some issues there."
Some of those issues were outlined in a series of stories critical of Trillium's services:
* An agency that is legal guardian for hundreds of area senior citizens should do a better job, according to an independent review committee’s report.
Guardianship agency needs to improve
* On the same day Trillium Family Solutions released a review of its guardianship program, a judge removed the agency as guardian of an 84-year-old woman because it did a poor job.
Trillium removed as woman’s guardian
* An agency that’s guardian for more than 200 incompetent people in Stark County must change the way it does business, says the judge who controls those guardianships. And the agency itself has formed a committee to review how it does its guardianship business.
Trillium aims to improve
* The Repository began this year with an outstanding reporting effort by staff writer Tim Botos. It was his series of stories on the guardianship program at Trillium Family Solutions, a local social service agency. Botos looked at hundreds of cases in which Trillium was handling the affairs of incompetent adults. What he found raised several important questions about how Trillium and Stark County Probate Court were looking after the well being of men and women who had no one else to protect them.
Report from Bittle committee will help Trillium continue to improve
Botos has done a thorough job of looking into Trillium’s work
They're called wards for short, as in wards of the court. They're people, often senior citizens, who can no longer make good decisions for themselves. They've been declared legally incompetent in probate court. A guardian has been appointed for each to handle his or her affairs.
Most wound up in the care of Trillium Family Solutions, a local nonprofit agency that charges fees to wards and nursing homes for its professional guardianship services.
Stark County Probate Judge Dixie Park said "There were some issues there."
Some of those issues were outlined in a series of stories critical of Trillium's services:
* An agency that is legal guardian for hundreds of area senior citizens should do a better job, according to an independent review committee’s report.
Guardianship agency needs to improve
* On the same day Trillium Family Solutions released a review of its guardianship program, a judge removed the agency as guardian of an 84-year-old woman because it did a poor job.
Trillium removed as woman’s guardian
* An agency that’s guardian for more than 200 incompetent people in Stark County must change the way it does business, says the judge who controls those guardianships. And the agency itself has formed a committee to review how it does its guardianship business.
Trillium aims to improve
* The Repository began this year with an outstanding reporting effort by staff writer Tim Botos. It was his series of stories on the guardianship program at Trillium Family Solutions, a local social service agency. Botos looked at hundreds of cases in which Trillium was handling the affairs of incompetent adults. What he found raised several important questions about how Trillium and Stark County Probate Court were looking after the well being of men and women who had no one else to protect them.
Report from Bittle committee will help Trillium continue to improve
Botos has done a thorough job of looking into Trillium’s work
Tim Botos REPOSITORY STAFF WRITER
Trillium made changes in an effort to improve, and still regularly takes on new cases. The judge revamped the way the court handles guardianship cases. The judge also sought out local elder law attorney Sandra Watkins-Cleaver for ideas to provide an alternative to Trillium. Watkins-Cleaver created Guardian Support Services, a stand-alone nonprofit. Its sole mission: Find volunteer guardians for indigent wards.
Full Article and Source:
Volunteer guardians in demand
Trillium still takes new guardianship cases?
ReplyDeleteShades of Melodie Scott...the LA Times exposed her in a 4 part series and yet she continues without skipping a beat.
No wonder justice doesn't exist anymore!