What does adult guardianship look like?
Barbara
Born in 1942, Barbara* was a typical healthy child. She had many friends in her neighborhood and showed promising artistic abilities, spending hours every week with her sketchbook. In highshool, though, she started displaying odd behaviors and expressing paranoid thoughts. She was forced to drop out of school, and was soon diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Barbara spent the next ten years in and out of mental health facilities while her care was primarily managed by her parents. By the 1980’s, she had lost both of her parents, and her sister Alice had taken over her financial assets, legal decisions, and care management.
Alice moved Barbara to an unlicensed group home, a cheaper option than the arrangements their parents had made for Barbara’s care. In the first year of her stay at the group home, Barbara escaped seven times, but Alice didn’t explore safer options for her sister.
At the sisters’ bank, a teller became suspicious about repeated large withdrawals from Barbara’s accounts, ones that seemed out of the ordinary. Through investigation, it was discovered that Alice had been siphoning money from Alice’s trust, even as she neglected Barbara’s dangerous living situation.
The courts intervened and assigned a professional guardian—Federated Guardians—to take over Barbara’s financial, legal, and medical accounts.
Our staff connected with Barbara and learned what they could about her desires, needs, and circumstances. We secured Barbara’s assets so no one else would be able to steal from her. We found a licensed care facility where her particular medical and safety needs would be met, and we facilitated her move.
As Barbara ages and her needs change, we continue adapting our action plan for her. We remain in contact with her caretakers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, and bankers, always advocating for her best quality of life, seeking the highest level of comfort and care.
Roberto
We don’t know much about Roberto’s past. What we do know is that shortly after Roberto* moved into an assisted-living facility with dementia, his caretakers realized his son Mateo was stealing from him. They witnessed Roberto’s son convincing him to sign large checks with little explanation of what they were for.
In the course of an investigation by the the Attorney General’s Senior Protection Unit, the courts stepped in. They declared Roberto incapacitated due to his dementia and began prosecuting Mateo for elder financial abuse.
With no other family or friends to help manage his care and assets, the courts asked us to step in. Federated Guardians personally verified that he was receiving excellent care at the assisted-living facility, established additional legal protection for his bank accounts, and assisted in the case against Mateo.
In 2021, Roberto passed away while comfortable, safe, and surrounded by caretakers who valued his life.
Dorothy
Dorothy* had been living in nursing home care for two years, receiving support for Alzheimer’s. The facility’s social worker noticed that no one visited Dorothy anymore and that Dorothy was no longer able to make reasonable decisions about her own care.
A brief search confirmed that Dorothy had no living relatives and no close friends outside the assisted-living community. A local judge referred her case to us, so Federated Guardians stepped in.
We reviewed her living situation and coordinated with the facility to plan for her future needs as the Alzheimer’s progressed. We connected with her doctors and ensured that she was as comfortable as possible.
Although Dorothy’s mental health continues to deteriorate, she is not alone. Federated Guardians will coordinate her care and advocate for her best interests until the end.
* To protect clients, names and photos are fictitious. These case studies represent common scenarios in Federated Guardians’ experience, not actual individual clients.
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