At the time the current family division system of guardianship for developmentally disabled adults was adopted in 1978, the procedural protections were in fact better than the protections in the probate court system.
But in the following year and in amendments since, the Legislature revoked the old probate adult guardianship system and adopted a set of procedural protections and options far better than those now in the family division. For example, different from the probate division system, annual reports to the family division on the well-being of the person under guardianship are not required, nor is voluntary guardianship an option in the family division system. By today’s standards, guardianship through the family division has become guardianship in name only.
It is not just a scattered number of cases throughout the state in which this is a problem. A communication by the commissioner of the Department of Disabilities Aging and Independent Living to the Legislature in January 2023 shows there are more than 600 adult Vermonters with developmental disabilities over whom the family division has open guardianships.
The questions must be asked: How does the Legislature, and how does the judiciary, allow this abject impropriety to continue? Similarly, why do Vermont’s disability and civil rights organizations remain silent?
David Searles
Full Article & Source:
Letter to the editor: In family division, guardianship is in name only
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