Should the guardianship of this man with intellectual disabilities be terminated?
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Anonymous
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-a-man-with-intellectual-disabilities-has-fewer-rights-than-a-convicted-felon/2015/09/21/2281f5c0-605e-11e5-b38e-06883aacba64_story.html
Why a man with intellectual disabilities has less rights than a convicted felon Ryan King is 33, works at Safeway for 15 years, rides to work every day, pays his bills on time and has never been charged with a crime. Yet in the eyes of the law, Ryan cannot decide where to live, work, spend his free time, what medicine to take or with whom to talk. When he turned 18, his parents were apparently told they had to have guardianship over him. Both he and his parents spent 10 years trying to terminate the guardianship. If his parents (his guardians) die, Ryan could be forced out of his house and into a group home, be forced to quit his job and have all his computer passwords to his favorite sites (such as eBay) blocked. "I love being independent" King says. “Everyone needs a little help sometimes. I don’t know anyone who knows everything. But just because people need a little bit of help doesn’t mean they can’t be independent.” |
Anonymous
| I think the parents should just not enforce the guardianship and let this go. He may be able to do a lot on his own, but the parents might need to step in in case someone takes advantage of him due to his disability, then there would be a completely different conversation such as "who was looking out for this guy?" |
Anonymous
| If the parents die, why wouldn't the guardianship go to someone specified, rather than revert to the court? Seems like the normal solution to this problem. |
Anonymous
But they want Ryan to be his own guardian. |
Anonymous
| The issue is long term care. He is self-sufficient, so yes. We have legal guardianship of a parent and I get the concern. It would be easy for someone, anyone to go in and get it transferred to them and take all the parents assets and his income. The court, at least ours, does track it yearly, but its so easy for someone to take advantage of someone else and have the courts go along with it. I see no reason the guardianship should not be dropped. |
Anonymous
You cannot be your own guardian. There is no guarantee that someone you elect will become guardian. The courts can have someone else petition and the judge go with that person. |
Anonymous
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There was a similar case with Jenny Hatch in 2013. Jenny Hatch is a 29 year old woman with Down syndrome, a high school graduate, lived in her own home, worked at a thrift store, and volunteered in many political campaigns. When she got into a bike accident, supposedly her parents petitioned for guardianship and placed her in a group home. Jenny didn't want to live in the group home and often ran away from there. After a year of court battles, Jenny won the right to live with the thrift store owners, took her into their home last year when she needed a place to recover after a bicycle accident.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/woman-with-down-syndrome-prevails-over-parents-in-guardianship-case/2013/08/02/4aec4692-fae3-11e2-9bde-7ddaa186b751_story.html Jenny said the group home took away her cell phone and wouldn't let her work or see her friends. |