Many elderly people and people with a disability can’t fully care for themselves, manage their money, and make important decisions about health care and other life issues. They’re at risk of abuse as a result. Court-appointed guardians provide an important safety net, but typically that net only covers people who can pay a professional or have a family member who’s willing and able to take on this role.
To protect vulnerable people in need of care, Vera piloted The Guardianship Project, a nonprofit model that operates in New York City. Staff lawyers, social workers, and bookkeepers oversee services that keep people safe and engaged in their communities. The alternative for many of them would be victimization or ending up in expensive, publicly funded institutions where their quality of life would decline.
The Guardianship Project serves as court-appointed agency guardians to a vulnerable, mostly indigent population—elderly and disabled people who lack family or other supports. The project’s multidisciplinary services provide essential support networks and enable clients to live as independently as possible—regardless of their ability to pay. The COV ...
Meeting Guardianship and Decision Support Needs in New York
In 2005, the Vera Institute of Justice and New York State’s Office of Court Administration initiated The Guardianship Project (TGP) to serve as court-appointed agency guardian to a vulnerable, largely indigent population—elders and persons with disabilities lacking family or other supports—thus enabling them to live as independently as possible. Th ...
An Exploration of the Current Guardianship System in New York
The New York State Senate held a roundtable in January 2018 to explore how to improve the state’s Article 81 guardianship system, which safeguards the interests and well-being of vulnerable adults with physical and mental disabilities (including dementia and Alzheimer’s) who are unable to care for themselves. The roundtable explored whether the gua ...
In the assisted living facility, the couple deteriorated quickly. New doctors prescribed increasingly higher doses of medications including Valium, Prozac, and oxycodone. Rennie gained 60 pounds. Rudy found it hard to read and concentrate. When their daughter Julie became concerned and tried to help her parents, Parks called the police. Julie, who ...
Many cases begin with the child managing an ailing parent’s finances or receiving financial assistance from the parent during a difficult time. Some of these children then call on their parents for increasingly large sums of money simply to pay bills or purchase expensive items, leaving their parents bankrupt and unable to care for themselves. This ...
When clients have needs that cannot be met on their own, TGP offers monthly visits and staff support, providing oversight and another set of eyes and ears for each client to help prevent the issues outlined by CNN’s investigation. CNN found that elder abuse in nursing homes is far more widespread that anyone would imagine. Predators find elderly pa ...
March 2017
The Guardian Reporter is the newsletter of The Guardianship Project (TGP), a demonstration project of the Vera Institute of Justice. In this newsletter you will learn about TGP staff and how the project is expanding in New York City. Readers will also learn about issues affecting adult guardianship as a whole, such as Falk’s Law, and the Elder Abus ...
In this issue of The Guardian Reporter, the newsletter of Vera's Guardianship Project: Hear from our former project director Laura Negrón as she reflects on her tenure at the project, and from our interim director Olga Perez discussing what lies ahead.Find out how the project's unique, multidisciplinary team model—combining expertise in legal advo ...
Building on Obama's Budget Plan for Seniors
The Obama administration released its budget for fiscal year 2015 earlier this month, and as reported by the National Council on Aging, it contains several changes to how programs affecting seniors are funded, ranging from Medicare adjustments to cuts in Social Security wait times. Many of these initiatives are welcome: a proposed $56.5 million inc ...
As violent crime rates continue to decline nationally, they have remained comparatively high in Chicago. Overall, reductions in violent crime in Chicago have been modest—dropping 9 percent from 2009 to 2010. That’s why the city’s recent 32 percent drop in homicide rates caught the national media’s attention in June. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel attr ...
This month, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law’s guardianship clinic published a comprehensive report summarizing the recommendations for best practices reform generated by nearly 100 lawyers, judges, social workers, and other practitioners who participated in a day-long conference on guardianship held last November. For those of us who work in Vera ...
Perpetrators of sexual violence often seek opportunities that will allow them to act with impunity. As a recent report issued by California Watch illustrates, gaps within and between systems serving people with disabilities create ample opportunities for doing so. The gaps detailed in this report help to explain why people with cognitive or intelle ...
