LB920 has reached final reading and would create the Office of Public Guardian. This office would give legal guardianship for elderly and disabled residents who lack other options.
Nebraska
is the only state without a guardianship office. Many would hope that
such a government office wouldn't be needed. That families or friends
would serve as guardians for people unable to make decisions for
themselves.
Unfortunately, that's not how it is in
society today. Families are often spread throughout the country. In some
cases, there may not be any close family. Friends often aren't willing
to take on the responsibility.
"Nebraskans take care of
their own," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln. "But
as the last state, what we're going to find is a growing need (for
volunteers) and a diminished capacity."
What the state
has found, unfortunately, is that the current system left the courts no
choice but to appoint guardians from private services who had no
connection to the person and were doing it for profit.
For
example, Judith Widener of Scottsbluff was named guardian for 688
people in 60 counties. Providing the needed attention to these 688 cases
was impossible. In fact, Widener appears to have been taking advantage
of the system and has been charged with embezzling $600,000 from her
clients.
LB920 would help rectify this with oversight of
the state's guardian system. In the new office would be a director,
deputy public guardian and up to 12 associate guardians. Of course,
these 14 people couldn't handle all of the cases in the state. But they
would provide education, training and support to current and future
guardians. They also would serve as guardians when no one else could be
found.
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On the surface, it would seem so. But, if you're in guardianship hell, the devil of all devils is the public guardian.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I just laughed when I heard Janet James of the Virginia Department for the Aging say they had been in touch with her about how to set up their public guardianship program.
ReplyDeleteShe will do a great job telling you what the rules should be. As far as making sure anybody obeys the rules -- what rules?! Not so much.
There are a whole lotta attorneys collecting fat paychecks and prancing around making eloquent but useless speeches claiming to help the elderly and disabled, when in fact they're covering up official mistreatment, abuse and neglect of the elderly and disabled.
Shameful.