At any given time in Indiana, a number of indigent adults who can no longer manage their own affairs enter the court system. Many are looked after by a small but dedicated cadre of people who donate their time.
In a bid to swell the number of volunteer guardians, the Indiana General Assembly provided $500,000 in the spring of 2013 to the Indiana Supreme Court to provide grants to programs and projects that manage volunteer guardians.
If the funding works as expected in the coming years, judges with Guardianship jurisdiction should see an uptick in activity and in the number of volunteers.
“Having a court-appointed volunteer guardian can dramatically reduce the likelihood of harm to these individuals and increase the level of care and services provided to them,” said Lake Superior Court Judge Diane Kavadias Schneider.
With the aging of the “baby boomer” population, the number of senior or incapacitated adults who will need court-appointed guardians is expected to rise. One study predicted that by 2030 there will be over 70 million people aged 65 or older, twice the number of elders in 2004.
In many cases, friends or families can serve as guardians. But in some situations, the families live too far away, have become estranged, or have passed away. In 2012, our Indiana court system created 6,914 guardianships. While some involved children, many involved incapacitated adults. Court-appointed guardians are often tapped to step in to help manage the person’s affairs.
During the 2007-2009 budget cycle, $1.25 million per year in state funds had been available to eight non-profit groups operating adult guardianship programs. But subsequent funding was cut as a result of tough economic times.
As part of a larger effort to provide support to incapacitated adults, the Indiana Adult Guardianship State Task Force was convened in the spring of 2008. It is comprised of key Indiana public/private agencies and organizations that serve or advocate for at-risk adults in need of guardianship services and by individual guardianship professionals, advocates and others with an interest in quality guardianship services.
“The Task Force goals are: 1) to examine the public policy, legal and service delivery issues, and needs related to adult guardianship; and, 2) to support the development and provision of community-based adult guardianship services across the state,” said Jim Leich, chair of the Task Force and President and CEO of Leading Age Indiana.
In late 2012, Fountain Circuit Court Judge Susan Orr Henderson and Judge Kavadias Schneider approached Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Brent Dickson and asked if he would include funding for adult guardianship programs in the Supreme Court’s Fiscal Year 2013-2015 budget. Also during 2012, in anticipation of a potential future role for the Supreme Court, staffers with the Court’s Division of State Court Administration began attending Indiana Adult Guardianship Task Force meetings.
Chief Justice Dickson agreed and included a funding request of $520,000 in the Court’s budget. Leich noted that Task Force members were instrumental in advocating legislation to establish a state guardianship office at the Supreme Court. Ultimately, the legislature agreed to provide the Court with $500,000 for each year of the two-year budget cycle.
Fountain Circuit Judge Henderson predicted the new funding will clearly benefit judicial officers, adding: “It will be a great resource for probate judges to enhance the ability to perform our statutory duty of monitoring the physical and economic well-being of the person and the estate in pending guardianships.”
To build the program, State Court Administration held a meeting in late May for guardianship stakeholders to plan for grant distribution. Grants were distributed in the fall of 2013 to nine non-profits that manage volunteer adult guardianship programs. Attorney Erica Costello was hired to staff the new Adult Guardianship Office at State Court Administration. She began work on January 6, 2014. Erica served for eight years as the Director of the Adult Protective Services in northern Indiana. Her offices were with the St. Joseph Prosecuting Attorney but she served multiple counties and has already established a fine reputation among advocates for an adult guardianship program.
An Adult Guardianship advisory committee will be established later to set long-range goals and strategies for the grant program. And, State Court Administration’s technology staffers are setting up an online Adult Guardianship registry that will provide a better method of tracking guardianship cases in Indiana.
“This expanded technology and oversight will assist the courts in monitoring guardianships and provide the public with non-confidential information regarding the status of an ongoing guardianship. The end result will improve guardian practices and enhance public confidence in guardianships,” said Judge Henderson.