NCJ Number
131176
Editor(s)
E F Dejowski
Date Published
1990
Length
175 pages
Annotation
Papers by authors representing a variety of disciplines examine guardianship and alternative methods for serving judgment-impaired elderly persons.
Abstract
One paper reviews recent literature on approaches to and instruments for identifying mental incapacity in the elderly for legal purposes, followed by a paper that advocates greater court involvement in the training and supervision of guardians for elderly incompetents. The latter paper proposes adding a social-service capacity to the traditional staffing pattern of probate courts. Findings from four guardianship and abuse projects for the elderly conducted in metropolitan Chicago are described in another paper. Results indicate that even when guardianship initially appears to be an appropriate remedy, improved analyses of client characteristics, outcomes, and available alternatives will often lead to the selection of other remedies. Another paper recommends a change in court law and practice so that the judge in any case involving a petition for surrogate power would have the option of shaping a remedy according to perceptions of the need. A report on a survey of nursing homes in Tennessee focuses on the number of nursing home residents who were receiving surrogate services including guardianship, representative payee, and power of attorney as well as the number of persons who might require such services. Other papers analyze the responsibilities of the guardian from the perspective of traditional philosophies of social organization, the cooperation of multidisciplinary personnel in providing guardianship to needy persons in community-protection and advocacy settings, and the failure of guardianship reform efforts. Chapter references and notes