Third National Guardianship Summit Releases Standards and Recommendations

On October 13 – 15, the ten National Guardianship Network sponsoring organizations, with eleven diverse cosponsors, convened the Third National Guardianship Summit at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney School of Law in Salt Lake City. With 92 delegates, observers, authors, funders and facilitators participating, the Summit was a consensus conference on post-appointment guardian performance and decision-making for adults.
The Summit delegates adopted a far-reaching set of recommendations for Guardian Standards, as well as additional Recommendations for action by courts, legislatures, and other entities. These documents from the Summit offer the groundwork for nationally recognized standards for guardians of adults.
The Third National Guardianship Summit was supported by grants from the State Justice Institute, the Borchards Foundation Center on Law and Aging, and contributions from the National Guardianship Network and co-sponsoring organizations. For a list of these entities, see www.guardianshipsummit.org.

Third National Guardianship Summit Standards and Recommendations

New! Online Volunteer Handbook for Courts Boosts Guardianship Oversight

Updating a 20-year old groundbreaking manual by Legal Counsel for the Elderly, Inc. of AARP, the ABA Commission on Law and aging has produced a concise, four-part readily accessible electronic handbook on volunteer guardianship monitoring. It guides court staff step by step in developing a volunteer guardianship monitoring and assistance program, recruiting and training volunteers, and compiling community information volunteers will need. Detailed forms and appendices are adaptable locally. For technical assistance in using the handbooks for your court, contact erica.wood@americanbar.org.

GAO Report on Incapacitated Adults, Federal Fiduciaries and Guardians

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has released a report dated July 2011, entitled Incapacitated Adults: Oversight of Federal Fiduciaries and Court-Appointed Guardians Needs Improvement, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-678 . The report assesses the screening, monitoring and information sharing procedures of the Social Security Administration, Veterans Affairs and state courts concerning fiduciaries and guardians; and also examines federal support for court oversight of guardians. The GAO recommends that: (1) the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should consider funding evaluations of practices for monitoring guardians; and (2) SSA should determine how it can, under current law, disclose certain information about beneficiaries and fiduciaries to state courts upon request.

GAO Report on Guardianship Abuse; Resources on Monitoring and Standards

See the recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report on Guardianships: Cases of Financial Exploitation, Neglect, and Abuse of Seniors at: http://www.gao.gov/Products/GAO-10-1046 . While the GAO “could not determine whether allegations of abuse by guardians are widespread,” it identified hundreds of such allegations by guardians in 45 states and DC between 1990 and 2010. The GAO examined 20 cases in which criminal or civil penalties resulted, and found significant exploitation of assets. The report showed that in many instances guardians are not sufficiently screened or monitored by the court; and additionally that selected guardian certification programs failed to adequately screen potential certified guardians. The GAO report underscores the compelling need for guardian standards, training, and monitoring.
See also:

Guarding the Guardians: Promising Practices for Court Monitoring (2007), AARP Public Policy Institute and ABA Commission on Law and Aging at: http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/il/2007_21_guardians.pdf

Klem, E., ABA Commission on Law and Aging, Volunteer Guardianship Monitoring Programs: A Win-Win Solution (2007)

ABA Commission on Law and Aging Awarded Grants to Develop Volunteer Guardianship Assistance and Monitoring Handbook for Courts

See National Guardianship Association Standards of Practice at: http://www.guardianship.org/pdf/standards.pdf

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