To improve guardianship case management, the National Center for State Courts is leading two SJI-funded projects to help guide courts through guardianship monitoring.
Developing a Judicial Response Protocol to Address Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation in Guardianship Cases features an interactive tool designed to help judges respond to allegations of harm to individuals subject to guardianship. Because most judges hear guardianship complaints infrequently, this tool helps judges consider their options while providing additional information and links to helpful resources along the way. The tool can be customized for individual states.
Working with partners from the National Guardianship Network, including the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging (ABA-COLA) and the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), NCSC’s Guardianship and Technology project will create technology standards for guardianship monitoring. Partners will host focus groups and conduct interviews with subject-matter experts and individuals affected by guardianship to identify needs and requirements. Once complete, the standards will encourage vendors to provide software systems that allow courts to effectively and efficiently monitor guardianships through online report filing and review.
This project builds upon the Conservatorship Accountability Project which resulted in a report: Adult Guardianship monitoring: A national survey of court practices and guidance on data collection in guardianship cases: Guardianship/Conservatorship Monitoring – Recommended Data Elements.
“There are very few cases in the judicial system that span the lifetime of these guardianship and conservatorship cases. It is critical that these monitoring systems be in play and that you constantly review files. If you catch something quickly, there may be a chance to step in and protect the individual.”
Judge Michael Long, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan
For more information, contact Diane Robinson, National Center for State Courts, drobinson@ncsc.org
August 1, 2022
King County, Washington, was ground zero for the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The Washington State Supreme Court suspended most court operations in all courts on March 18, 2020. Acknowledging access to justice is of critical importance, King County Superior Court (KCSC) leadership vowed to continue to hold matters on all …
July 1, 2022
Juvenile court judges are the most important public figures in the juvenile justice system–their decisions impact whether hundreds of thousands of youth each year become court involved and for how long, whether they are involuntarily removed from their homes and communities, and the services they receive. Despite the importance of these judges, states and locales …
June 1, 2022
Each county in Mississippi contains its own Justice Court where community members bring legal actions to settle local, small-dollar disputes. Court regulations and policies vary in each county, and they can be incredibly confusing for Mississippians to navigate, almost all of which are pro se litigants. The COVID-19 pandemic created more variation as judges and …
May 2, 2022
Participating in the judicial system can be traumatic and stressful. Mediation is a tool used for resolving many judicial matters, thus mediators often encounter disputants experiencing the worst time of their lives. With this in mind, Texas Dispute Resolution System™ (TDRS) began a process to enhance their mediators’ skills and knowledge when engaging disputants during …
April 1, 2022
The State Justice Institute awarded a key grant to the District of Columbia Courts’ Office of Court Interpreting Services to launch the Courts’ Interpreter Registry and the first-ever Amharic Court Interpreter Certification Examination. These initiatives demonstrate the Courts’ commitment to increase access for Limited English Proficient (LEP) and deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals to the judicial …
March 1, 2022
In November 2020, the Family Center of the Conciliation Court (FCCC) within the Arizona Superior Court in Pima County, was awarded a Pandemic Response and Recovery grant from the State Justice Institute (SJI) to implement the Court’s vision of converting what was an employee-led, in-person parent education course to an on-demand, online, and self-paced e-Learning …