Centre for Policy on Ageing



Dependent on the kindness of strangers — professional guardians for older adults who lack decisional capacity
Author(s)	S L Reynolds, L D Carson
Journal title	Aging & Mental Health, vol 3, no 4, November 1999
Pages	pp 301-310
Source	http://www.tandfonline.com
Keywords	Court of protection ; Mental disorder ; Dementia ; Rights [elderly] ; United States of America.
Annotation	For older people who need a guardian and do not have family or friends to act as such, professional guardians fill this role in this study of two counties in Florida. Recent cases of financial exploitation by professional guardians have sparked criticism of this profession, but have not been informed by empirical data. In a study of 406 court files between 1983 and 1996, the authors examined the characteristics of wards, guardians, and guardianship practices to determine whether having a professional guardian had a negative effect on wards, in terms of rights removed, the amount of assets spent, and restrictiveness of residential placement. Although there were no significant differences between the numbers of rights removed or depletion of assets, those wards who had family guardians were more likely to be living in the community than those with professional guardians. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-001018204 A
Classmark	JVC: E: EA: IKR: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.