FOX 4 investigation yields bill seeking to protect elderly

Fox4News.com | Dallas-Fort Worth News, Weather, Sports  Guardians and attorneys who represent some of Texas' most vulnerable people may be required to start disclosing exactly what they are charging for their services.

A bill before the legislature involves stepping up financial accountability.

“I feel like I am not in America,” Michael Kidd said back in 2009, after the state determined that he and his wife could no longer care for themselves. “I can't believe that I have been high jacked off the street, virtually…imprisoned.”

The state placed Kidd and his wife in a nursing home against their will and took over all of their finances.

It was only after FOX 4 stepped in and aired their story that a judge allowed them to return home, but by then, their finances had been turned upside down.

In Austin on Monday, there were lots of similar stories, and now a bill has been proposed that would require more financial accountability for guardians.

“We have seen attorneys' fees in cases in Tarrant County, Dallas County, Travis County and Bexar Counties in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to represent an elderly person who is trapped,” said Deb Valdez, a guardianship reform advocate.

Virginia Pritchett also testified about her good friend, Denise Tighe, who was also placed in a nursing home against her will 20 miles away from her home.

Pritchett said Tighe had a sizable savings account. She later died with no friends or family with her.

“This guardianship law may have been passed to help people, but instead, it enables the greed to take full financial advantage of the elderly,” said Pritchett. “My friend was never able to spend a day in her home again, simply because she had lots of money.”

State Sen. Judith Zaffarini's bill, Senate Bill 1369, would require attorney and guardians to file a report with the name of each person appointed by the court, the hours they worked and the compensation paid, and those reports would have to be available online and physically at the court.

The senator says the current system requires reporting, but only 40 percent comply.

A Travis County judge testified Monday that he has grave concerns about the bill.

“This, I'm concerned about because it is putting a great burden upon the judge when I don't have enough staff in my office to do it,” said Judge Guy Herman of Travis County Probate Court.

Monday was the first reading of the bill, so it is still early in the legislative process.

Sadly, Michael and Jean Kidd both passed away after FOX 4's stories aired, but they were back in their home, and that is where they wanted to be. 

Full Article, Video & Source:
FOX 4 investigation yields bill seeking to protect elderly

Financial Abuse by Profiteering Guardians Awaits Boomers and Heirs

In May 2008, Larry Mills filed in Texas to become legal guardian of his then 80-year-old mother, Willie Joe Mills, who’d had a stroke. But by July 2009, Judge William McCulloch in a Harris County probate court appointed a third-party guardian who was also an attorney.

“The guardian put Mama in memory care with dementia people, then he sold her house for $86,000, cashed out $1 million in CDs and put it all in a trust before she was declared incompetent,” said Sherry Johnson, who is one of three of Mills’s adult children. “She never had a trial or due process.”

The nightmare Willie Joe Mills and her heirs experienced is part of a growing trend. Some 37% of judges, court managers and clerks who responded to a Center for Elders and the Courts survey revealed that guardianship filings have increased over the last three years and 43% noted an increase in caseloads.

In most states, it is not uncommon for the elderly to lose their individual rights around residence, medical care, assets and property once they are placed under guardianship. The consequences can be detrimental for families -- financially and in terms of the older relative's health.

Lasting Effects of the Swindle
Willie Joe Mills’s trust was reportedly billed on a quarterly basis by the guardian to pay his monthly salary to manage the elderly woman's affairs, but Johnson claims her mother’s health began failing once she was placed under care at Silverado Senior Living in Kenwood, Texas.

“She had pneumonia and urinary tract infections and the facility medical staff failed to treat her because the guardian told them not to,” said Johnson. “The guardian used a Do Not Resuscitate document my mother signed to avoid treating minor health problems that could have been arrested.”

“We are seeing financial exploitation of the elderly by court appointed third-party guardians where there is little oversight,” said Debby Valdez, president of Guardianship Reform Advocates for the Disabled and Elderly (GRADE) in San Antonio, Texas.

Money Talks
“Baby Boomers are the last generation of great wealth, so it stands to reason that things are going to get a whole lot worse and quickly,” said Elaine Renoire, president of the National Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse in Indiana.

Help That Hurts
Typically, Adult Protective Services (APS) is the first point of contact responsible for investigating alleged abuse.

“When APS receives reports of elder abuse, case workers go into the home to investigate and ameliorate the situation with legal, medical, psychological and social services,” said Karen Roberto, director with the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech.

And therein lies another potential for abuse in states where anyone can reportedly initiate a guardianship by simply placing a telephone call to the probate court.“We receive two to three phone calls a week from families whose elderly parent or family member is being forced into guardianship under the guise of protection by an APS phone call or visit,” Valdez told MainStreet.

Full Article and Source:
Financial Abuse by Profiteering Guardians Awaits Boomers and Heirs

See Also:
NASGA:  Willie Jo Mills - Texas Victim

Boomers Beware of Guardianship Abuse

Texas Disabilities Issues Forum (TDIF) September 24, 2014

What

DVAP, ADAPT, The Arc of Texas, Texas Parent to Parent, and CTD are coordinating with a wide range of groups and individuals to host the Texas Disabilities Issues Forum (TxDIF). The Forum is an opportunity for voters who have interests and concerns about issues affecting Texans with disabilities to learn about the positions and potential policies of candidates from the Republican and Democrat parties, running for the top three statewide offices (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General).

When

9am - 4pm Wednesday, September 24, 2014 (times tentative).

Where

Radisson Hotel, 111 Cesar Chavez St., Austin, TX 78701

The Forum will also be Live Streamed for those unable to attend. Updates about the Live Stream location will be posted on this page.

Who

The Forum is open to the public at $10 per seat. Spaces are going fast, so register now to guarantee your seat and avoid a wait list the day of the event.

Limited financial assistance is available*.

Accommodations available by request **.

Why

The Forum will be a day long event, where the candidates or their representatives will address the issues in front of a live audience of interested voters. It will be an important event. Even more important is that informed voters go to the polls weeks later and cast their ballot.

For more information or to REGISTER

See Also:
GRADE:  Guardianship Reform Advocates for the Disabled and Elderly
 

Tonight on T.S. Radio: Elder Law Advocates: "Let Ruby Go!"

Candice Schwager joins us today with GRADE leader Debby Valdez to tell the story of Ruby Peterson, a 93-year old woman being held against her will, falsely imprisoned and illegally chemically restrained at Silverado Senior Living, Sugarland Texas. The cause Let Ruby Go is featured on Facebook at Free Ruby from Silverado, http://www.letrubygo.com

Candice Schwager, President of ElderLaw Advocates "Let Go of Ruby!"

Candice is a 15 year civil litigation attorney and serves as President of 2 nonprofits for the disabled, Attorneys for Special Needs Children and ElderLaw Advocates her website is http//www.elderlawadvocates.org.

She practices in Houston, Texas. She's an advocate and attorney and has testified before the Texas Senate on special education issues. Her journey began like many before her, when her son's School District denied him a free appropriate public education in services he required as a result of his 31/2 months premature birth at one pound and retaliated against her personally for her advocacy. Candice is a 4 time recipient of awards by the Texas State Bar for outstanding provision of legal services to low income Texans, included in the Texas Bar Pro Bono College.

She has also been featured in the Houston Examiner as an inspiring woman.

5:00 pm PST … 6:00 pm MST … 7:00 pm CST … 8:00 pm EST

LISTEN LIVE or listen to the archive later

See Also:
GRADE

Advocates Push for Reform of Adult Guardianship System in Texas

It all started when Denise Tighe passed out at a restaurant in her North Texas hometown. The 85-year-old was taken to the hospital, deemed incapable of properly caring for herself and became a ward of the state against her will.

After she was assigned a guardian in 2011, she was taken to a nursing home 20 miles from her hometown near Fort Worth, which she adamantly protested, and her home and a lifetime of jewelry and antiques were put up for sale. She died in January with friends and family questioning whether the state did her more harm than good.

Now one of Tighe’s friends, Virginia Pritchett, is pointing to what happened to Tighe as an example of a broken adult guardianship system in Texas.

Pritchett is one of about two dozen advocates who gave testimony to the state Sunset Advisory Commission on Wednesday hoping to spur change. They say the guardianship process is stripping the rights from competent people and dragging them through a court system that requires them to spend thousands to protect their independence.

The push has gained momentum since the last legislative session when only a handful of critics lobbied with little success. Since then, a coalition of disability and elderly groups from across the state has banded together to develop and refine a set of proposals for the next session — calling for guardianships to be the last option and for more independence for wards of the state.

These elderly people are being warehoused in nursing homes, and these court-appointed attorneys are going through all their money in court hearings that the elderly people don’t even know is occurring,” said Debby Valdez with the San-Antonio based Guardianship Reform Advocates For The Disabled &  Elderly.

Adult guardianship cases are lawsuits designed to ensure vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities are not abused, neglected or exploited. A probate court must determine whether people are competent enough to keep themselves safe and healthy. If the answer is no, the judge can appoint a guardian to make medical, financial and other decisions for them.

Lawyers and judges have said that the system is protecting people and that proposed changes would leave people more vulnerable and throw unnecessary roadblocks into the process.

Texas has about 46,000 people in guardianship, according to the state. Between September 2011 and August 2012, more than 4,500 adult guardianship petitions were filed in probate courts across the state. Of those, 206 were filed in Travis County.

Advocates say that guardianship should be the last option for proposed wards and supported decision-making should be the alternative. This means allowing people with limited disabilities to hire supporters whose jobs are strictly to give information so they can make decisions for themselves.

“Even though it seems counterintuitive, not all people under guardianship are totally unable to make decisions,” said Bob Kafka with the Austin-based group Guardianship Reform and Supported Decision Making.

Supported decision-making has also garnered the support of former Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs.

A few years ago, the Travis County probate court appointed Suehs’ mother-in-law a guardian ad litem, whom she paid about $300 an hour. She also hired her own attorney to fight the process.
After $30,000 in court fees, Suehs’ mother-in-law settled the dispute in mediation and she got her independence back.

“Some people have started using guardianship as an easy way out, to try to attack and resolve family disputes when they don’t need to,” Suehs said. “My own personal belief is that over the last five or six years, lawyers are creating an industry here."

Suehs worked with lawmakers in the last legislative session for guardianship reform, but some laws passed that did more harm than good, according to advocates. The law that has garnered the most criticism gives guardians the authority to decide where a ward can live and peace officers must enforce it.

“It gives the guardian the authority to call the police and say, ‘I’ve got a court order and I can remove the little old lady from her house,’” Valdez said.

Advocates want people under guardianship to have the ability to decide where to live. And guardians should be forced to visit with their wards monthly and submit reports that are reviewed by the court, advocates say.

“Every alternative must be explored before even thinking about taking away someone’s civil rights,” Kafka said.

Source:
Advocates Push for Reform of Adult Guardianship System in Texas

LISTEN and WATCH the archive of the Sunset Advisory Commission.  Note:  fast forward to 9:27.00

Luck for Dorothy!

Dorothy Luck finally nabbed a break in her ongoing battle against a Tarrant County probate court that has seemed bent on bleeding her dry financially in an ironic attempt to protect her.

Judge Steven King signed an agreement this month that frees Luck from guardianship in a controversial case that removed her rights — including her ability to hire an attorney — even as it sucked an estimated $1 million or more of her savings (“Grabbing the Purse,” Sept. 4, 2013).

“I wanted you to be the first to know,” Luck told Fort Worth Weekly after receiving the news. “Your article had everything to do with it.”

Over the past six years, the Weekly has published several stories spotlighting the county’s two probate judges (King and Pat Ferchill) and their web of attorneys, investigators, bankers, social workers, and others who sometimes appear overzealous in their attempts to manage — and sometimes benefit from — the lives and bank accounts of elderly and disabled residents.

The first story (“Saving Katia,” July 2, 2008) chronicled Kathie Seidel’s attempts to overturn Ferchill’s decision to remove her adoptive daughter from the Seidel home, place her under guardianship, and heavily restrict her communication with relatives. The judge made the decision in a closed hearing without the mother’s input. Seidel is still fighting to get what her now-adult daughter wants: restoration of her rights or at least a more family-friendly guardian.

Seidel sees the recent action in Luck’s case, along with a couple of other recent guardianship reversals, as victories for everyone trying to protect the rights of wards, which is what the guardianship system is supposed to do.

“This is an important decision,” Seidel said. “They [probate courts] are trying to tidy up questionable rulings.”

Seidel credits several factors in addition to media scrutiny led by the Weekly.

Full Article and Source:
Luck for Dorothy

See Also:
Grabbing the Purse

Saving Katia

Tonight on T.S. Radio: Texas Guardianship Reform Advocates wtih Debby Valdez

5:00 pm PST … 6:00 pm MST … 7:00 pm CST … 8:00 pm EST

Debby Valdez joins us from Texas to discuss the violations of rights of those disabled and the elderly.  Debby is a “boots on the ground advocate” fighting to preserve and restore the individual rights of those targeted by the predators operating in her state.

 

Bio:

• Debby Salinas Valdez:   is a parent of a young adult born with multiple disabilities.  She is founder of Texas Adults w/Autism & IDD, a parent and advocacy support group in San Antonio, Texas. 
• She teaches legislative advocacy to parents and adults with disabilities to advocate for change in their community, or at the state and national level. 
• She is a member in several other local and state wide organizations and committees focused on supporting persons with disabilities.
• As a civil rights activist she primarily remains focused on reforms to the guardianship laws in preserving and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
• Became a member of GRADE- the Guardianship Reform Advocates for the Disabled & Elderly. 
• Our mission is:  When families are torn apart we are the voices of those unseen and unheard.  My goal as a member of GRADE was to protect my daughter’s civil, human and Constitutional rights.
• I wasn’t aware at the beginning that my efforts would eventually be about my rights as a Baby Boomer where the Guardianship Industry is also gearing up to take over our lives and our assets with little to no accountability, oversight or monitoring.  It has been within my experience that those who operate this industry are better protected that those Guardianship was created to protect.

LISTEN to the show live or listen to the archive later

Blog Talk Radio Tonight: Autism and Elder Abuse Issues

 
Our guest on tonight's show is Debby Valdez, on behalf of the organization, Guardianship Reform Advocates for the Disabled and Elderly (GRADE).

Raising the community's consciousness about elderly people with disabilities is one of several urgent issues we will discuss on this episode of ICAA Radio.

Call in number:  718-766-4749

10:00 P.M. Central time Friday, May 17, 2013

LISTEN to the show live or listen to the archive later

See Also:
International Coalition for Autism and All Abilities

G.R.A.D.E. (Guardianship Reform Advocates for the Disabled and Elderly)

Saving Katia

Adopting orphans from foreign countries comes with risk, but Kathie Seidel was willing to roll the dice. She was hurting. She wanted to be a mother again. For more than 20 years she had showered love on her only child, Brian, and his accidental death in 1989 had sent her reeling.

“Everything in my life was an adventure with Brian,” she said. “He was such a joy, and I wanted to have that again. Parenting was the best thing I ever did with my life.”

Unable to bear more children, she decided to become an adoptive mother. At 40 and single, she wasn’t the preferred candidate for American adoption agencies, so she looked overseas. Her first adopted child came from Russia in 1993. Four-year-old Greg arrived with problems and charms. Hyperactive and diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, he was also intelligent, sweet, and loving. Seidel was crazy about him; he adapted well to his new home, and they quickly bonded.

But this time around, she decided against raising an only child. Greg would get a sibling. The two adoptions together would cost $32,000, but Seidel’s career in computer software sales was thriving, and she could afford it. She chose a girl who had lived the first eight years of her life in a Russian orphanage.

On the outside, Katia was slender, pretty, and dark-eyed. On the inside, she was a time bomb.

“Katia came, and all hell broke loose,” Seidel said.

The girl bullied her new brother. She was autistic and slow to develop. Epileptic seizures appeared to have caused mild brain damage. And she was later diagnosed with attachment disorder, a behavioral problem associated with neglected or abused infants who miss out on being held, rocked, baby-talked, nourished, and otherwise loved in their first 18 months. These children have difficulty bonding with adoptive families and can exhibit destructive outbursts, known as rages, along with other socially awkward behaviors, including cruelty to siblings and pets, lying, and food hoarding, and often have difficulty establishing relationships with peers.

Seidel soon realized the girl was going to demand much of her time and resources, but she was up for the challenge. An award-winning volunteer at social service agencies, she’d earned a master’s degree in special education and had taught emotionally disturbed students for years.

“Katia came to the right place when she came to me,” Seidel said.
As it turns out, knowledge, experience, love, and determination don’t guarantee rosy outcomes. Seidel’s life turned upside-down. These days, she finds herself frazzled, heartsore, and broke.

“My retirement money has been wiped out,” she said.

While Katia’s condition certainly played a role in those problems, Seidel said her biggest obstacle has been overcoming what she and others call a fractured, underfunded, overwhelmed, and vindictive system that is supposed to provide services to people with cognitive disabilities in Texas. She’s spent thousands of dollars on attorneys trying to fight court and government actions that have replaced her as Katia’s legal guardian and moved the girl to a succession of institutions and group homes.

“If you buck the system, they put your kid in an institution,” Seidel said.

Local officials hesitate to discuss Katia’s case, citing confidentiality issues, but they say Seidel wasn’t cooperative and that the girl is doing better after being removed from her home.

Tarrant County’s guardianship system, which deals with children, the elderly, and those not mentally capable of representing themselves, is considered among the state’s best. But the staff is overseeing 1,300 guardianship cases with limited resources, and some clients can be volatile. Robert Gieb, an attorney appointed to represent Katia, described Seidel as likely to torpedo most situations.

Full Article and Source:
Saving Katia