Volunteers sought for guardian program

CANTON

Stark County Probate Judge Dixie Park is seeking volunteers for the probate court's Guardian Visitor Program.

Guardian visitors serve as the court's eyes and ears visiting the wards under guardianship and those who serve as their guardians, a press release from Park said. Guardian visitors report on the well being of the wards.

By law, the probate court is responsible for overseeing cases of people who, due to serious physical or mental disabilities, need help in making decisions about their daily lives.

In Stark County there are about 1,700 ongoing guardianships, according to Park.

Volunteers will receive initial training and ongoing support from the court.

Anyone interested in volunteering as a guardian visitor, call 330-451-7752.

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Volunteers sought for guardian program

Kim Hone-McMahan: Be a guardian and friend to the lonely through volunteer program

Margie Newell & Lynn Spencer

By Kim Hone-McMahan 

They just may be the loneliest of the lonely in our community. They have no family or friends, or at least none who can care for them. They are unable to make important decisions for themselves. They are indigent. And they live in nursing homes where no one comes to visit.

They are adults who are wards of the Summit County Probate Court.

Concerned about these folks, Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer created the Volunteer Guardian Program, which pairs caring souls with those in need.

Imagine being alone. Maybe you have a physical or mental health illness and no one in your life who steps up to help you. Perhaps you’ve had a stroke or are someone who is mentally challenged. There are many scenarios, and the need for guardians is equally great.

“It’s a guardian’s job to make sure that a person is getting the care that they need,” explained Gizelle Jones, executive director of Jewish Family Service, which was selected to implement the program that began last year. “Nursing homes offer a variety of challenges so if you are not in decent mental health and unable to advocate for yourself … you need someone to help you.”

That’s where you come in. If you have been looking for a volunteer opportunity to change someone’s life in a significant way, this may be for you.

During a recent visit to Seasons Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Stow, guardians Lynn Spencer of Munroe Falls and Jay Regallis of Wadsworth were visiting their new friends.

Jay, whose paying job is in sales and marketing for Servpro and who has volunteered helping the elderly in other ways, broke out in song. Odie Zickefoose, 56, who lives at the home, enjoys reminiscing about the old days, particularly chatting about songs from the ’60s and ’70s.

“And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire, the ring of fire,” Jay sang, to Odie’s delight.

A few feet away, resident Margie Newell, 55, was chatting with Lynn, who visits her about once a week. Sometimes they go to the park or the fair. Margie has even met Lynn’s family.

“I would recommend it for people who want to volunteer. It is a blessing spending time with Margie,” said Lynn, the retired director of a nonprofit organization that helped victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in the Virgin Islands. “It works both ways — she gets something from me being here and I get something. We are companions for each other and share experiences together.”

As Lynn spoke, Margie grinned, adding, “I adopted her as my mom.”

Jennifer Mesko-Kimmich is program director of volunteers. She makes certain that the men and women who donate their time receive any help needed to do the best jobs for their wards, who are thrilled to receive visits from their guardians.

More people like Lynn and Jay will be needed.

“As our population is aging, we have people who are having physical problems … or the deterioration that comes with age,” explained Stormer. “The need grows every year. Most of the time, we can find a family member who is willing to take on the responsibility. But sometimes we have family members who are not appropriate or unable to care. And that’s why we turn to volunteers.

“We welcome anyone who has the heart to do this,” she added. “The training is available; they don’t have to have any prior experience.”

Volunteers must be 21 or older, have their own transportation and visit their ward once a month. A background check is done and volunteers must complete three hours of court-mandated training. That’s not much to change someone’s life.

If you’ve been thinking of volunteering, please consider this opportunity to help the loneliest of the lonely.

For more information, call 330-867-3388.

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Kim Hone-McMahan: Be a guardian and friend to the lonely through volunteer program

New Jersey Asks for Help to Halt Fraud by Guardians

Citing cases of embezzlement by those entrusted with the affairs of elderly and disabled people, the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court called on Wednesday  for citizen volunteers to help weed out fraud in the state’s legal guardianship program.
      

Court-appointed guardians make virtually all decisions for people who are judged too incapacitated to care for themselves, managing their finances as well as decisions about health, housing and even meals. Some are relatives, while others are friends or lawyers.
      

Chief Justice Stuart J. Rabner said the courts had developed a new database to track all guardianships and make sure that each case is reviewed annually. The volunteers in the new guardianship monitoring program will read the annual reports and flag “inconsistent or incomplete” financial information, and report potential improprieties to judges.
      

The number of people with court-appointed legal guardians in New Jersey is rapidly increasing, Chief Justice Rabner said. Last year 3,900 people were declared incapacitated enough that their financial and health decisions were turned over to guardians. The number will only increase, he said, as rates of autism and Alzheimer’s disease continue to rise, and as the population ages. By 2030, he said, about 20 percent of the state’s population will be 65 years or older, up from about 13 percent now.
      

Many guardians do not file required reports detailing the financial situations and well-being of the people they oversee, or if they do, the reports often go unread, Chief Justice Rabner said. The state does not even have a complete count of how many people are under the care of guardians.
      

Chief Justice Rabner cited several cases in which guardians stole from people whose lives they essentially controlled. In 2004, a lawyer in Ocean County was convicted of stealing $2.6 million from 56 people in his care. In 2008, a minister in the same county was convicted of stealing $200,000 from 19 people. In October 2011, a lawyer was indicted on charges that he stole $800,000 from 60 people in his care in Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
      

Those people were caught, the chief justice said, because those counties aggressively review guardians’ annual reports. Many other counties, he said, do not have the personnel to do so.

He said that the courts were looking for volunteers who knew how to analyze simple financial reports, but that training would be provided by the state’s judiciary branch.
      

The program has begun in three counties, and is expected to be statewide by November. Court officials said only Delaware and Utah had similar statewide monitoring.

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New Jersey Asks for Help to Halt Fraud by Guardians

Volunteers Sought For County Guardianship Monitoring Program

By Press Release

COURT HOUSE -- Cape May County Surrogate M. Susan Sheppard, Esq. is seeking volunteers to be part of the Guardianship Monitoring Program in Cape May County. The state-wide initiative calls for volunteers to monitor the well-being of the elderly and disabled who rely on legal guardians to manage their financial and health-related decisions.

Surrogate Sheppard said, “Volunteers are the foundation of this program - The Guardianship Monitoring Program enables Attorneys, Accountants, Retired Professionals, Students and others to volunteer to assist and protect our most vulnerable residents. We are in need of volunteers for our program in Cape May County.”

“As a society, we must protect those who are most vulnerable, it is our responsibility to ensure that those who have guardians appointed are well taken care of in Cape May County,” added Surrogate Sheppard. According to Census data, the population of elderly and disabled Americans will grow dramatically in coming years. Surrogate Sheppard stressed, “It is essential that we take steps to protect those with guardians by enhancing the level of oversight of legal guardians which this program does – but volunteers are the key to its success.”

Legal guardians in New Jersey are appointed by the court and are responsible for making decisions on behalf of an incapacitated person about personal and medical care, meals, transportation and even where the person lives. Guardians take control of the person’s assets, manage budgets, pay debts and make financial and investment decisions.

Legal guardians can be family members, friends, attorneys and others. They not only manage the affairs of people they assist, but also must report annually on the financial status and the general well-being of the individual in their charge. Written reports are filed each year with the county surrogate. The annual reports are designed to provide the courts with key information on the quality of financial management.

Surrogate Sheppard said, “Volunteers work directly in my office to review guardian files and the annual reports.” Volunteers receive detailed training from court staff on how to read and analyze the guardians’ annual reports and how to gather data for the new computer system. Volunteer monitors flag inconsistent or incomplete financial information, which is then reported to judges for appropriate action.

To access the volunteer application go to: www.njcourts.com/guarianship. Questions can be submitted to: njguardianship.mailbox@judiciary.state.nj.us or call Cape May County Surrogate M. Susan Sheppard, Esq. at 609-463-6667.

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Volunteers Sought For County Guardianship Monitoring Program

NJ's Volunteer "The Guardianship Monitoring Program"

COURT HOUSE – Cape May County Surrogate M. Susan Sheppard endorses the program initiated by New Jersey Chief Justice Stuart Rabner on Jan. 30 that calls for volunteers to monitor the well-being of the elderly and disabled who rely on legal guardians to manage their financial and health-related decisions. Surrogate Sheppard said, “Volunteers are the foundation of this initiative - The Guardianship Monitoring Program will enable Attorneys, Accountants, Retired Professionals, Students and others to volunteer to assist and protect our most vulnerable residents. I look forward to developing this program in Cape May County.”

“As a society, we must protect those who are most vulnerable, it is our responsibility to ensure that those who have guardians appointed are well taken care of in Cape May County,” added Surrogate Sheppard. According to Census data, the population of elderly and disabled Americans will grow dramatically in coming years. Surrogate Sheppard stressed, “It is essential that we take steps now to protect those with guardians by increasing and enhancing the level of oversight of legal guardians.”

Surrogate Sheppard said, “Volunteers will work directly in my office and in Surrogate’s offices throughout the state to review guardian files and the annual reports.” Volunteers will receive detailed training from court staff on how to read and analyze the guardians’ annual reports and how to gather data for the new computer system. With the new database, missing or incomplete reports will be easier to identify. Volunteer monitors will flag inconsistent or incomplete financial information, which will be reported to judges for appropriate action.

The program is expected to be statewide by November 2013.

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Sheppard Wants Volunteer Guardianship Monitoring Program

Editorial: Exposing Guardian Devils - NJ Supreme Tightens Watch of Guardians

Too many times the courts have entrusted the well-being of dependent individuals to guardians who promise protection, then steadily swindle them for the rest of their lives.

These guardians come with the highest credentials — attorneys, professionals and, in one Ocean County case, a minister who was also a licensed social worker. With nothing in their reputations or resumes to suggest they are other than upstanding citizens, these scoundrels gain control of the bank accounts and legal affairs of their wards.

Soon, however, the guardians will have guards watching for signs of this most despicable crime.

Last week, New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner Announced that teams of volunteer watchdogs  will monitor the legal guardians for tens of thousands disabled and elderly people. They’ll be on the lookout for theft or abuse of power.

The Volunteer Guardianship Monitoring Program will train people to scan the annual expense reports all legal guardians are required to file with the county and look for any “red flags” that suggest possible mismanagement, as The Star-Ledger’s Susan Livio reported last week.

While the vast majority of court-appointed guardians are caring and responsible, the audacity of those who prey on the powerless is breathtaking. An Ocean County lawyer, for instance, stole millions from his physically and mentally handicapped clients who had no heirs or next of kin.

For each high-profile case, there could be hundreds of other smaller swindles.

The innovative statewide program, set to launch soon in Mercer, includes a database that will facilitate tracking and investigation. The most important resource, however, will be the volunteers.

It is, as the chief justice says, a noble aim to shield those depending on guardians from larceny.

A federal measure in the works would complement New Jersey’s vigilance on legal guardians. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania is calling for better screening of the 5.6 million representative payees who annually handle $61 billion in Social Security payments for 7.6 million beneficiaries.

The push stems from a Philadelphia case in which a woman allegedly kept disabled captives drugged and wounded in a filthy basement after tricking them into signing over their benefits to her. She was able to collect those checks even though she’d served time for starving a man to death.

During a five-state test of Casey’s measure, dozens of people convicted of fraud and violence were prevented from becoming the managers of another individual’s Social Security payments.

Implemented on a national level, this safeguard would work in tandem with the guardian-monitoring program to protect some of New Jersey’s most vulnerable residents.

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Editorial:  Exposing Guardian Devils - NJ Supreme Court Tightens Watch of Guardians

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Good News for New Jersey: Guardianships Get a Safety Net

Good News for New Jersey: Guardianships Get a Safety Net

New Jersey needs to protect vulnerable adults better from being defrauded by their guardians, officials said Wednesday in announcing a plan to have volunteers monitor the records of the tens of thousands of elderly and disabled residents who are under court oversight.

Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said the state's judiciary will be putting out a call for attorneys, accountants, retired professionals and others to volunteer for a new guardianship monitoring program that will debut in Passaic County and spread statewide.

"We want people who can read and analyze simple financial reports," Rabner said.

The volunteers will be asked to pore over the annual reports filed in cases in which a guardian — sometimes a relative or friend or sometimes an attorney or other professional — has been appointed to manage the finances, medical care and housing choices of an incapacitated adult.

Those reports are kept in county surrogate offices, some of which do not have the staff to ensure the reports are even filed on time, much less reviewed, Rabner said.

"We know that monitoring practices vary throughout the state," said the chief justice, pointing out that some counties have until recently been relying on paper files rather than computerized records.

The volunteer initiative was triggered by a concern among judges that the swelling number of guardianships — combined with shrunken budgets and staffs — has left many of these cases untended. Unchecked, the abuse can continue for years. In 2009, Ridgewood attorney Steven T. Rondos pleaded guilty to improperly withdrawing $1.5 million from the guardianship accounts of two dozen clients between 2001 to 2008.

As examples of the kind of abuses that can occur, Rabner cited a 2004 case in which an Ocean County attorney stole a combined $2.6 million from 56 incapacitated clients under his guardianship and the 2008 case in which a Toms River minister who served as a social worker took $200,000 from 19 people under his watch. The chief justice said those abuses were uncovered because Ocean County has an accountant review guardianship case files. The volunteers that the court plans to train will be given instruction on how to check the balances reported at the beginning and end of reporting periods, looking for signs that too much money is being spent on undocumented expenses.

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Guardianships Get a Safety Net