- Senate committee hearing Tuesday heard from advocates and victims about improving the conservatorship and guardianship process in Michigan.'
- Under Michigan law, judges can assign conservators and guardians to take care of people the state has deemed incapacitated.
Protecting rights to those who need it most.
Victims and advocates meet Senate committee members to discuss better Guardianship and conservatorship practices in the state.
Rodrick Gordon says he was harmed by his guardianship process when he was placed in the system.
“I must say that I do not consider myself disabled. I focus on my being a normal human being like everyone else,” Gordon said.
He was deemed unable to take care of himself after not being able to have service that helped him live independently.
Under Michigan law, judges can assign conservators and guardians to take care of people the state has deemed incapacitated.
“Many of these rights that we hold dear and have without thinking of them are taken away with the process of adult guardianship,” Shannon said.
Nicole Shannon is the Systemic Advocacy Attorney with the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative and worked with Gordon four years ago to gain his and others their rights back.
“When you have a problem guardianship tends to be the solution. And that’s a problem. Because guardianship is really restrictive situation,” Shannon said.
According to Shannon being under guardianship can restrict where you live, where you go and who you go with.
And which is why advocates and victims met with the Senate committee of civil rights, judiciary, and public safety on Tuesday to consider a bill package to adjust the practices.
House Bills 4909 to 4912 aim to improve the guardianship process to ensure the due process and safety of everyone involved.
House Bill 5047 would create the Office of State Guardian Board to oversee professional guardians and conservators.
Though agreeing the system should change, the Michigan Guardianship Association says putting a limit on how many cases can have could impact care for low-income people.
“It puts those cases now in a physical impossible way to serve because now they’re going to pay less than McDonalds does before there’s expenses. It just makes it impossible to put people in serving those spots.”
Shannon says that when guardianship is bad, it’s bad so we must be aware now before it gets there.
“It’s really important if guardianship is going to be used it’s used really carefully, it’s used really precisely and used in situations only absolutely necessary,” Shannon said.
“Because if I don’t contest it, this could happen to anyone,” Gordon said.
The committee still needs to vote on the bill package before it moves forward
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