The Guardianship Project
The Guardianship Project serves as court-appointed agency guardians to a vulnerable, mostly indigent population—elderly and disabled individuals who lack family or other supports that enable them to live as independently as possible. TGP seeks to cast a spotlight on a desperately missing element of the social safety net and to provide an approach that humanely addresses critical needs for these individuals, saves public dollars, and allows key institutions to operate more effectively.
TGP currently provides services in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx and accepts cases regardless of the client’s economic status. We offer a highly regarded holistic guardianship services model. Project staff include lawyers, social workers, and finance associates, who oversee an array of services and help clients to remain independent and engaged in their communities.
The Guardianship Project staff visits clients at least once a month, so as to be in a position to prevent or proactively address our clients’ issues. A 2014 cost/benefit analysis showed that TGP saves over $2 million in Medicaid dollars annually.
Looking for Guardianship assistance? View our Guardianship Resource Guide.
Featured
Incapacitated, Indigent, and Alone
Meeting Guardianship and Decision Support Needs in New York
In 2005, the Vera Institute of Justice and New York State’s Office of Court Administration initiated The Guardianship Project (TGP) to serve as court-appointed agency guardian to a vulnerable, largely indigent population—elders and persons with disabilities lacking family or other supports—thus enabling them to live as independently as possible. Th...
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“Guardianship” Often Fails Poor Seniors. Is There a Different Way?
Flickr / Garry Knight
Opinion: New York State’s Escalating Need for High-Quality Guardianship
Related Work
New York State Senate Guardianship Roundtable 2018
An Exploration of the Current Guardianship System in New York
The New York State Senate held a roundtable in January 2018 to explore how to improve the state’s Article 81 guardianship system, which safeguards the interests and well-being of vulnerable adults with physical and mental disabilities (including dementia and Alzheimer’s) who are unable to care for themselves. The roundtable explored whether the gua...
Guardians and the End-of-Life Decision Making Dilemma
As America’s population ages, families and patient surrogates are increasingly finding themselves making difficult end-of-life decisions for those who can no longer make those decisions for themselves. Next of kin and court-appointed guardians must make these choices ethically based on what is right for their client or family member. The stories of...
Blog Post
Susan De Maio
The Question of Guardianship: How the Elderly Lose Their Rights
In the assisted living facility, the couple deteriorated quickly. New doctors prescribed increasingly higher doses of medications including Valium, Prozac, and oxycodone. Rennie gained 60 pounds. Rudy found it hard to read and concentrate. When their daughter Julie became concerned and tried to help her parents, Parks called the police. Julie, who ...
Blog Post
Susan De Maio
Seniors Facing Cognitive Decline Need Responsible Financial Care from Banks, Families, and Community Providers
Many cases begin with the child managing an ailing parent’s finances or receiving financial assistance from the parent during a difficult time. Some of these children then call on their parents for increasingly large sums of money simply to pay bills or purchase expensive items, leaving their parents bankrupt and unable to care for themselves. This...
CNN Article on Elder Abuse Highlights Increased Need for Guardianship Services
When clients have needs that cannot be met on their own, TGP offers monthly visits and staff support, providing oversight and another set of eyes and ears for each client to help prevent the issues outlined by CNN’s investigation. CNN found that elder abuse in nursing homes is far more widespread that anyone would imagine. Predators find elderly pa...
The Guardian Reporter
March 2017
The Guardian Reporter is the newsletter of The Guardianship Project (TGP), a demonstration project of the Vera Institute of Justice. In this newsletter you will learn about TGP staff and how the project is expanding in New York City. Readers will also learn about issues affecting adult guardianship as a whole, such as Falk’s Law, and the Elder Abus...
The Guardian Reporter, June 2014
In this issue of The Guardian Reporter, the newsletter of Vera's Guardianship Project: Hear from our former project director Laura Negrón as she reflects on her tenure at the project, and from our interim director Olga Perez discussing what lies ahead.Find out how the project's unique, multidisciplinary team model—combining expertise in legal advo...
Comprehensive Community Living
Building on Obama's Budget Plan for Seniors
The Obama administration released its budget for fiscal year 2015 earlier this month, and as reported by the National Council on Aging, it contains several changes to how programs affecting seniors are funded, ranging from Medicare adjustments to cuts in Social Security wait times. Many of these initiatives are welcome: a proposed $56.5 million inc...
Blog Post
Stephen Marsh
Guardianship Practice
A Six-Year Perspective
In 2005, Vera launched The Guardianship Project in New York City in collaboration with the New York State Office of Court Administration to address systemic inadequacies in the practice of legal guardianship for primarily elderly incapacitated people. Poor oversight and the absence of best practices in guardianship is a national problem, and New Yo...