Custody Of Drew Peterson Kids

Drew Peterson, charged in the death of his third wife and suspected in the disappearance of his fourth, soon might face another legal battle: a custody fight.

The ex-cop had two children with Kathleen Savio, whom he's accused of killing, and another two with Stacy Peterson, who has been missing since 2007. Drew Peterson's adult son Stephen announced Monday that he has taken custody of the children, but relatives of Savio and Stacy Peterson are looking into whether they can change that.

"It's an issue that's moved to the front burner," said Martin Glink, an attorney representing Savio's father and sister, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Peterson shortly before his arrest last week. He added, that he hasn't talked about the issue with his clients or anyone else in the Savio family.

Full Article and Source:
Drew Peterson arrest: What happens to the kids?

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Drew Faces Custody Battle, Too

Custody battle pending for Peterson's kids?

Guardianship Program Ending

The Adult Guardianship and Advocacy Program (AGAP) operated by Family Services Inc. will cease operations on May 22.

The Family Services Inc. Board voted to discontinue the program at its May 6 meeting after spending almost a year seeking a solution to funding challenges.

The program, which trained volunteers to represent the health and legal interests of at-risk and incapacitated adults, cost almost $61,000 to run last year. Funding for the program came from United Way of Greater Lafayette, The Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette, St Elizabeth Regional Health, Alcoa Foundation and other public and private sources.

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Funding problems end advocacy program

Stop Guardianship Abuse

They took him away from the only people on earth who loved him.
And, they destroyed him.



This family is so afraid of reprisal, they could not risk showing a picture of Dad

May 2009 ~ Guardianship abuse victims recognized during Elder Abuse Prevention Month

Healthcare Providers Are Victims Too

Judges are politically appointed, politically approved attorneys. These attorneys are not appointed to the Bench for their Integrity; they are appointed because they have political connections. Note how many Lawyers have infiltrated your State Legislature.

These 'political pawn' Bench warmers are rubber stamping every motion their court appointed 'crony' Guardian and/or Conservator's make while denying due process of law to family members and suppressing their irrefutable evidence in 'favor' of their cronies' unsubstantiated claims given 'credibility' by the 'titles' these unscrupulous 'professionals' have before their names.

These courts operate in 'secret' allowing for wild accusations against family members ruled as fact by these 'bench warmers'. Once these unscrupulous agents of the court have obtained 'guardianship'; they strip all rights of the person now their 'ward' enabling them to displace their 'wards' from their homes and families into facilities, deny medical treatments and family members from Advocating for their loved ones health and well being.

These unscrupulous 'agents of the court' are then free to sell their 'wards' homes and all assets often displacing family members who have given up jobs to care for their loved ones.

These unscrupulous 'agents of the court' are then free to bill against their 'ward's funds as if it were they were their own piggy bank. Coupled with the high costs of 24/7 professional/facility care, the funds are depleted too soon and the 'ward' becomes the taxpayer's responsibility.

The loving family members are prevented from Advocating for their loved ones 'wards' of the court/Guardian; their loved one is medicated into compliance, neglected and abused. Immobility leads to mortality and premature death.

Healthcare Providers who Speak Out after connecting the dots of FRAUD upon the taxpayers; illegal 'snatching' of vulnerable citizens (elderly, disabled, and children)for personal profit, feeding State Government coffers; and covering up sentinel events of these wards, are egregiously retaliated against: Blacklisted from working in their professions and ultimately they too become victims of the same racket they have attempted to reform.
Whistleblower #1137

Juicy Fees

As Erie County’s court-appointed public administrator, Acea Mosey oversees the settlement of estates, hundreds of them, for people who die without relatives or heirs.

And she gets paid handsomely to do it.

Exactly how much is hard to determine, but her caseload is big enough to generate more than $600,000 in potential commissions over the course of about three years.

Mosey, a former Erie County Water Authority commissioner active in Democratic Party politics, says her true compensation is closer to $180,000 a year and not all of that money goes to her.

“There’s a lot of bad with the good,” Mosey said of the estates and the profit or loss they generate.

Unlike the public administrator in Niagara County, who steered estate work to his wife and brother, Mosey, who was appointed by Surrogate Court Judge Barbara Howe, is not accused of doing anything improper.

The state court system allows and even encourages Erie County’s practice of awarding its estate work to a single, private practice lawyer working strictly on commission.

Full Article and Source:
Court appointee defends juicy fees

Lawmakers Push For EJA

With state officials predicting more than 100,000 cases of elder abuse next year, Kildee and other federal lawmakers are pushing for new legislation that would use $100 million to help local agencies find and address such incidences.

The Elder Justice Act would create offices of elder justice at the federal departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. Those offices, said Kildee, would raise the profile of the issue and make it easier to get federal money into communities such as Genesee County. "They're on the front lines," he said.

Any federal money would be welcome, said Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton. The Genesee County Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation program currently relies on about $750,000 in funding from the county's $8-million senior citizen millage.

Full Article and Source:
Lawmakers push for federal Elder Justice Act

Needlessly Suffered

Because of a forced guardianship, my mother had to spend over four years in nursing homes against her will. It didn’t matter to the judge that Mom wanted to live with me. It didn’t matter that she was terrified and abused while in the nursing home. And it doesn’t matter now to the judge that my Mom needlessly suffered total loss of her sight due to nursing home neglect, among other atrocities.

She begged me to take her home but I was powerless to do so. The judge appointed my brother, an attorney apparently still in “good standing” although on psychiatric disability for at least 10 years, as guardian of the property. His illness and irrational behavior plagued my efforts to free Mom because the judge favored my brother over our mother’s best interest.

And my Mother suffered for it.

The person the judge was supposed to be protecting was my Mother, not my brother.

May 2009 ~ Guardianship abuse victims recognized during Elder Abuse Prevention Month

Foster Parents Granted Custody

In an unusual rebuke to state child welfare workers, a Jefferson County family court judge has removed a teenage girl from their care and granted temporary custody to her foster parents.

Circuit Judge Stephen George last month took that step, over the objections of state workers, after the workers reneged on an agreement to let the 17-year-old remain in the Bullitt County foster home where she had been thriving, said the girl's lawyer, Christopher Harrell.

Harrell: "I think it's atrocious. the state previously had agreed not to move the girl from the foster home."

While family court proceedings involving abused and neglected children by law are confidential, Jim Grace, head of Kentucky's child protection services acknowledged the judge's decision to transfer custody from the state to the foster parents "may be unusual." And he said state officials will investigate the matter and see if further action is warranted.

Full Article and Source:

Judge takes teen from state's care

Worse Than Waterboarding

The court order authorizing electroshock treatments for Ray Sandford says that when he arrived at a psychiatric hospital early last year, he was "grossly psychotic" and violent toward staff and other patients.

Sandford, who has been declared legally incompetent, said he agreed to the treatments at first, but after more than 40 of them he finds it hard to remember names and other things. His bipolar disorder is under control, he says, and he should have the right to say no.

The court disagrees, but advocates of the mentally ill who call themselves the "mad pride" movement have rallied to his defense.

"This is worse than waterboarding," said David Oaks, executive director of MindFreedom International, who led about two dozen people in a rally at the Minnesota Capitol this month to draw attention to Sandford's case.

Oaks: "Offer somebody the choice between waterboarding or forced electroshock and a lot of our people who know what it is will say waterboarding."

Sandford: "I just don't like the idea of them being able to force these treatments."

Sandford's caregivers persuaded a judge to order electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) plus a combination of anti-psychotic drugs.

MindFreedom, based in Eugene, Ore., opposes involuntary psychiatric treatment and all use of ECT, but mental-health professionals say ECT is safe and effective in many severely depressed patients for whom drugs have failed.

Full Article and Source:
Minn. patient wants right to refuse electroshocks

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Minn. patient wants right to refuse electroshocks

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Remember Ray