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New York state judicial leaders react after a ProPublica investigation found that lax oversight by court-appointed appointees abused and neglected the elderly and infirm New Yorkers they were supposed to protect. are working to reform the state’s problematic guardianship system.
The new attention will come from two new positions created in the state court system. One will be a special prosecutor and elder judge for guardianship issues, which a spokesperson said will focus on “statewide adult guardianship reform efforts.” and so-called statewide coordinating judges.
More than 28,000 New Yorkers are under the care of court-appointed guardians, who are tasked with caring for people deemed unable to care for themselves. Under state law, guardians can manage the ward’s finances and medical care and are paid for their services from the guardian’s fund. But as ProPublica reported this year, court oversight of these officials is insufficient. For example, New York City has more than a dozen judges and 157 court investigators who are responsible for overseeing guardianship and ensuring the welfare of 17,411 people.
Advocates say those most vulnerable to abuse and neglect are the so-called “disadvantaged,” New Yorkers who don’t have friends or family to care for them. An internal court assessment obtained by ProPublica estimates they make up 20 percent of the districts statewide. There is no single government agency providing their care. Courts have long relied on a small network of nonprofit organizations and professional guardians for these low-cost, no-cost cases.
There are too few court investigators to oversee the work of guardians, and a shallow pool of providers leads to neglect, exploitation, and abuse. The woman profiled in the ProPublica report lived for years in an unheated house infested with bed bugs and rats, conditions that her legally appointed guardian failed to correct and examiners never questioned. Ta. Another guardian spent more than half of his ward’s lifetime savings on care provided by his private practice. This is a flagrant conflict of interest that judges have tolerated for years.
After ProPublica sent questions about the guardian’s conduct to the court, a court spokesperson said the inspector general had opened an investigation into the allegations. A spokesperson did not provide further details.
The court system’s move comes after advocates are calling on local and state officials to close the conservatorship system, saying it cannot keep up with demand for services, especially among older adults, the state’s fastest-growing age group. This was done amid pressure to strengthen the system. Advocates told lawmakers at a New York City Council hearing on elder fraud last week that the current arrangement is unsustainable.
Highlights of this series
“The chronic shortage of available guardians has created an unsustainable situation,” said the Working Interdisciplinary Network of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS), an association of judges, lawyers, and others involved in the guardianship system. Gene Callahan, Chairman of the Board, testified. “We created an unfunded mandate in New York.”
Callahan was one of six experts who asked the City Council to pass a resolution asking state leaders to create a public funding system. The bill’s author, City Councilwoman Crystal Hudson, drafted the bill in response to a report by ProPublica. “Now is the governor’s turn. [Kathy] Mr. Hochul should take action to strengthen the guardianship system by creating a public fund to compensate guardians to protect vulnerable New Yorkers who need protection,” Hudson said at the hearing. .
Her bill authorizes $15 million in annual spending to support a network of nonprofit organizations serving the poorest and most disadvantaged people. Guardianship Access New York, the nonprofit coalition that drafted the proposal, sent a letter last week to Hochul and other state officials urging them to fund the effort. The effort is supported by about two dozen community organizations, including AARP New York.
Another plan proposed by the state court system’s advisory committee goes further. The group has proposed creating an independent, statewide agency to act as guardians for people who have no one else, but the group estimates the effort would cost $72 million a year in staff costs. are.
State Sen. Cordell Clear, who chairs the Legislature’s Committee on Aging, said in an interview that he supports overhauling the guardianship system and creating a more modest plan to help nonprofits care for disadvantaged people across the state. Supported the proposal. “From everything I’ve looked at and weighed, I think that’s the right thing to do,” she said.
‘A real overhaul is long overdue’: Lawmakers call on state leaders to reform New York City’s beleaguered guardianship system
But it’s unclear whether Hochul and state legislative leaders are on the same page. While they acknowledge the need to care for the state’s growing aging population, none commented specifically on the guardianship issues highlighted by the amendments proposed by ProPublica and advocates. Any reform efforts would have to pass through the Senate and Assembly Judiciary committees, whose chairs did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.
A spokesperson for the governor said in a statement that Hochul will consider the budget “in January, as required by law.”
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