Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar yesterday (Thursday, Sept./ 22) held a hearing on protecting seniors and persons with disabilities from abuse and neglect by guardians.
A recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed hundreds of allegations of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of seniors and persons with disabilities by court-appointed guardians.
During the hearing, Klobuchar called for more accountability and oversight of court-appointed guardians to ensure that seniors are safe and receive the care they deserve. Klobuchar chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts.
“While the vast majority of court-appointed guardians are professional, well-meaning, and law-abiding, there is mounting evidence that some guardians use their position of power for their own gain at the expense of the very people they were supposed to be looking out for. That’s just not right,” Klobuchar said. “This hearing is an opportunity to find potential solutions to increase accountability and oversight of guardians and keep seniors safe.”
Klobuchar invited Minnesota State Ombudsman Deb Holtz to testify at the hearing. Holtz serves as the State Ombudsman for Long-Term Care, a service of the Minnesota Board on Aging, and is the top consumer advocate for thousands of elderly Minnesotans.
“We know from experience, unfortunately, that many people are being ill-served by their guardians and conservators. We also know that many court systems simply lack the resources to effectively monitor this enormous system,” Holtz said. “We are very supportive of Senator Klobuchar’s action to now take on this issue at the federal level. It should be a given that we all age without any abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation and that our lives will continue to be filled with dignity.”
A 2010 report from the GAO identified hundreds of allegations of physical abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation by guardians in 45 states and the District of Columbia between 1990 and 2010. The report reviewed 20 of these cases and found that guardians had stolen or otherwise improperly obtained $5.4 million from 158 incapacitated victims, many of whom were older adults.
Another recent GAO report, which assessed state court procedures for screening and monitoring potential fiduciaries and guardians, revealed that while many states have some sort of screening procedures in place, only 13 states require guardians to undergo independent criminal background checks before being appointed and only nine states explicitly prohibit convicted felons from serving as guardians.
In addition to Holtz, other witnesses that testified at the hearing included Kay Brown, Director of the GAO’s Education, Workforce and Income Security team; Naomi Karp, Strategic Policy Advisor for the AARP Public Policy Institute; Robert Baldwin, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the National Center for State Courts; and Michelle Hollister, Managing Partner at Solkoff Legal, P.A., and former Executive Director of the Florida Statewide Public Guardianship Office.
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