Allegations of Elder Abuse By Public Agencies
A recent post to my last entry raised an interesting issue about elder abuse by public agencies, i.e., the courts, court investigators, public defenders, court appointed attorneys, county counsel and public conservators. Apparently, this writer has some experience with the system to accurately name the majority of the players in a conservatorship process. Now, we have a topic to which I have expertise and can clarify some misunderstandings.
Most people have the misguided impression that the "State" comes in and scoops up old people for the purpose of stealing them blind and that is not the case. The law provides for a process to provide for the care and protection of the individual who has nobody able or willing to care for another. The courts provide oversight to the legal process, the court investigator goes out to provide a report back to the courts, and there is a system of follow up checks to see how the process is working and to insure due process to the individual who is the subject of the court's jurisdiction. If the proposed conservatee needs legal counsel and is indigent, then a public defender is appointed, and it is usually an attorney who has contracted with the county to provide legal services to the indigent of the community. If they have money to pay for their own attorney, then a court appointed attorney is selected but he is not paid until the court has reviewed his bill and issued approval and autorization to pay. The conservatee or his next of kin can review the proposed invoice and has opportunity to object. Payment is by court order. The public conservators is generally the Public Guardian who is a county employee and receives a county paycheck like everyone else including the road crews and social workers. The public conservator must have legal counsel in pursuing conservatorships, and that is where the county counsel comes in. County Counsel is the official county attorney who provides legal services to all county offices and officials. County Counsel also is a paid county employee who draws his paycheck like everyone else. None of these individuals are paid a commission or collect a percentage of the conservatee's estate. They all get paid the same regardless of whether they work or not so long as they are on the payroll. Any suggestion that they might be in a conspiracy to defraud an elderly person is so "out there" because that would suggest that everyone on public payroll is corrupt.
This is simply just not the case. You might find one person who is less than honest but to find a collection of individuals who come from different agencies but they all look the other way while someone pockets the estate of a vulnerable individual is not going to happen as a rule. I can think of one instance in Riverside California where a scandal did happen many years ago, but nobody got away with it. There are more honest public servants than there are dishonest ones. Is the entire conservatorship system perfect? Of course not. No system is perfect, but it does provide a method to remedy any problems that may arise. A system of checks and balances does exist that helps to protect the elderly and vulnerable.
The public conservatorship process which includes all of the above referenced agencies does not scout out clients. They often are accused of NOT doing anything more often than doing too much. When public agencies do charge, and they do because the taxpayers are entitled to be reimbursed for their tax dollars spend to help an individual. . . .the estate reimbursement goes back to the taxpayers in the form of a deposit into the county general fund. Yes, when the county agencies are called in to rescue someone, it is the rest of us, the tax payers who foot the bill.
If it is discovered that the person has a significant estate and can well afford to reimburse the taxpayers for services rendered, it should be done.
Now, why does the public agencies even get involved? Often because there is nobody else willing or able to do anything. Most often it is after numerous telephone calls, reports and complaints from friends, family and neighbors. Anyone who has dealt with a public agency knows that they are often slow. Most often the elderly do not provide a plan for their own care. They often do not want to deal with issues of old age or death. Often they have become estranged from family and the family simply won't step up to the plate because they think it might cost them money to do it so they prefer the taxpayers do their job of caring for their family member. Many times there may be an element of paranoia and family doesn't want to be accused of stealing money or property. Sometimes there is a fear that stepping foward to help will alienate the elder and they might get cut out of the Will. No matter what the excuse, the bottomline is that family could do something but they don't want to because of any one of several reasons but they expect the public should because "that is their job." However, once the public agency steps in, the family feels it is their duty and right to micro manage everything and criticize the county for charging a fee for services rendered. The objections is often that the charges reduce their anticipated inheritance. To be fair, sometimes folks just assume that all county services are free and everyone is entitled to those freebies. But nothing is free and we all pay for those services. Reimbursement where funds are available is fair, and if the family is worried about a reduction in their inheritance, they should step in and care for their own.
After working over 15 years in public conservatorships, this is an area that I am most familiar both inside and out. Are there incompetent county employees out there? Yes, they are everywhere from public guardians to county clerks and social workers but incompetency runs across the board from public to private sector. If we had enough time in this section of my blog, we could discuss attorneys but I will save that for another day.
How do we insure minimum in elder abuse of the elderly in our family or our community? Well, we take care of our own. Once you step up to the plate, you do all that work to provide for and protect someone and see how complicated it can be, how much work is involved, how many details you are required to do, and how exhausting some issues can be like sorting out the financial records that have been neglected for years, dealing with past due IRS and state taxes that may be 7 years in arrears, pending civil suits for unpaid debt, eviction for nonpayment of rents, sorting out the medical issues while overcoming the new HIPPA rules, or cleaning up their home that may have several feet of papers, garbage, feces and urine . . .maybe there is one recliner to sleep in and one single 12 inch pathway to walk in the entire home. I have worked under these conditions and worse. I have dealt with a houseful of dead rats, cats and chickens, mold and mildew, cobwebs that have an inch of dust and dirt collected, carpets so soaked with urine that the leather on the top of you shoes was permanently ruined, and you came out of this house smelling like the homeowner. If you have not seen a hoarding house that often the elderly can create, you have no idea what the term "hazmat" can really mean. This is a huge amount of work and effort to turn things around for an individual. Any public agency who takes this work on is doing it out of a sense of duty and concern. Not everyone is a thief. In fact, if you check the stats, most often the thief is within the family or the elderly's "circle of support" like the care giver, neighbor, the friend from church, or the nephew who shows up inbetween paydays.
Dishonesty comes in all forms but it isn't always a public servant. No, I am sorry to say often the public servant is the only one willing to do the job that nobody else will do. Unfortunately, by the time a public agency is aware of a situation, it is as bad as it can get. The people who always accuse the "State" or the "county" of stealing from the citizens has no idea how the process works and it is often part of the mentality that everyone, every State, every county government is bad. The solution is and should be that we take care of our own, and then we don't have to worry about honesty of others, public or private.
Most people have the misguided impression that the "State" comes in and scoops up old people for the purpose of stealing them blind and that is not the case. The law provides for a process to provide for the care and protection of the individual who has nobody able or willing to care for another. The courts provide oversight to the legal process, the court investigator goes out to provide a report back to the courts, and there is a system of follow up checks to see how the process is working and to insure due process to the individual who is the subject of the court's jurisdiction. If the proposed conservatee needs legal counsel and is indigent, then a public defender is appointed, and it is usually an attorney who has contracted with the county to provide legal services to the indigent of the community. If they have money to pay for their own attorney, then a court appointed attorney is selected but he is not paid until the court has reviewed his bill and issued approval and autorization to pay. The conservatee or his next of kin can review the proposed invoice and has opportunity to object. Payment is by court order. The public conservators is generally the Public Guardian who is a county employee and receives a county paycheck like everyone else including the road crews and social workers. The public conservator must have legal counsel in pursuing conservatorships, and that is where the county counsel comes in. County Counsel is the official county attorney who provides legal services to all county offices and officials. County Counsel also is a paid county employee who draws his paycheck like everyone else. None of these individuals are paid a commission or collect a percentage of the conservatee's estate. They all get paid the same regardless of whether they work or not so long as they are on the payroll. Any suggestion that they might be in a conspiracy to defraud an elderly person is so "out there" because that would suggest that everyone on public payroll is corrupt.
This is simply just not the case. You might find one person who is less than honest but to find a collection of individuals who come from different agencies but they all look the other way while someone pockets the estate of a vulnerable individual is not going to happen as a rule. I can think of one instance in Riverside California where a scandal did happen many years ago, but nobody got away with it. There are more honest public servants than there are dishonest ones. Is the entire conservatorship system perfect? Of course not. No system is perfect, but it does provide a method to remedy any problems that may arise. A system of checks and balances does exist that helps to protect the elderly and vulnerable.
The public conservatorship process which includes all of the above referenced agencies does not scout out clients. They often are accused of NOT doing anything more often than doing too much. When public agencies do charge, and they do because the taxpayers are entitled to be reimbursed for their tax dollars spend to help an individual. . . .the estate reimbursement goes back to the taxpayers in the form of a deposit into the county general fund. Yes, when the county agencies are called in to rescue someone, it is the rest of us, the tax payers who foot the bill.
If it is discovered that the person has a significant estate and can well afford to reimburse the taxpayers for services rendered, it should be done.
Now, why does the public agencies even get involved? Often because there is nobody else willing or able to do anything. Most often it is after numerous telephone calls, reports and complaints from friends, family and neighbors. Anyone who has dealt with a public agency knows that they are often slow. Most often the elderly do not provide a plan for their own care. They often do not want to deal with issues of old age or death. Often they have become estranged from family and the family simply won't step up to the plate because they think it might cost them money to do it so they prefer the taxpayers do their job of caring for their family member. Many times there may be an element of paranoia and family doesn't want to be accused of stealing money or property. Sometimes there is a fear that stepping foward to help will alienate the elder and they might get cut out of the Will. No matter what the excuse, the bottomline is that family could do something but they don't want to because of any one of several reasons but they expect the public should because "that is their job." However, once the public agency steps in, the family feels it is their duty and right to micro manage everything and criticize the county for charging a fee for services rendered. The objections is often that the charges reduce their anticipated inheritance. To be fair, sometimes folks just assume that all county services are free and everyone is entitled to those freebies. But nothing is free and we all pay for those services. Reimbursement where funds are available is fair, and if the family is worried about a reduction in their inheritance, they should step in and care for their own.
After working over 15 years in public conservatorships, this is an area that I am most familiar both inside and out. Are there incompetent county employees out there? Yes, they are everywhere from public guardians to county clerks and social workers but incompetency runs across the board from public to private sector. If we had enough time in this section of my blog, we could discuss attorneys but I will save that for another day.
How do we insure minimum in elder abuse of the elderly in our family or our community? Well, we take care of our own. Once you step up to the plate, you do all that work to provide for and protect someone and see how complicated it can be, how much work is involved, how many details you are required to do, and how exhausting some issues can be like sorting out the financial records that have been neglected for years, dealing with past due IRS and state taxes that may be 7 years in arrears, pending civil suits for unpaid debt, eviction for nonpayment of rents, sorting out the medical issues while overcoming the new HIPPA rules, or cleaning up their home that may have several feet of papers, garbage, feces and urine . . .maybe there is one recliner to sleep in and one single 12 inch pathway to walk in the entire home. I have worked under these conditions and worse. I have dealt with a houseful of dead rats, cats and chickens, mold and mildew, cobwebs that have an inch of dust and dirt collected, carpets so soaked with urine that the leather on the top of you shoes was permanently ruined, and you came out of this house smelling like the homeowner. If you have not seen a hoarding house that often the elderly can create, you have no idea what the term "hazmat" can really mean. This is a huge amount of work and effort to turn things around for an individual. Any public agency who takes this work on is doing it out of a sense of duty and concern. Not everyone is a thief. In fact, if you check the stats, most often the thief is within the family or the elderly's "circle of support" like the care giver, neighbor, the friend from church, or the nephew who shows up inbetween paydays.
Dishonesty comes in all forms but it isn't always a public servant. No, I am sorry to say often the public servant is the only one willing to do the job that nobody else will do. Unfortunately, by the time a public agency is aware of a situation, it is as bad as it can get. The people who always accuse the "State" or the "county" of stealing from the citizens has no idea how the process works and it is often part of the mentality that everyone, every State, every county government is bad. The solution is and should be that we take care of our own, and then we don't have to worry about honesty of others, public or private.
posted @6:43 AM
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